Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Troy Baker's Starting a Game Studio?! - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Buy one prescription pair and get 20% off any additional prescription pairs at Warbyparker.com slash kind of funny. If you want to get our shows ad free and our exclusive shows, go to patreon.com slash kind of funny. What's up everybody? Welcome to the Kind of Funny Games cast for Monday, April 20th. Smoke it if you got it. 2026. I'm one of your host Greg Miller alongside Forbes 30 under 30, aka New York Game Awards nominated, A. K.A. Bicep Poppy. Blessing at a yo-ye, Jr. Good day, Greg. Good day. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you doing? I'm excellent. I'm happy to be here with you. This, what do you call it? The morning? The breakfast beers. The breakfast beer. It's doing something to me. I'm telling you what these Kirkland signature cold brew coffees in a can. That's what it's all about.
Starting point is 00:00:56 I feel the energy surging through my veins. I'm glad you do. I'm chasing a bunch of bourbon from a kind of funny podcast with this. Oh, I'm feeling really good. Oh, wow. And speaking of feeling really good. Let's talk about somebody who's looking really good. The voice of Jack Pepper in Mouse, P.I. for hire. It's Troy Baker. Oh, sorry. He's got to finish his passage. He's got to finish his passage. I'll quiet it down. Wow. What you're reading, Troy? Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. Did you ever read it? I have. Yes. It's a great, great book. I'm about that far through it. Sure, sure. Hard cover. I like that. I like the hard cover. I like the hardcover better. Yeah? Because afterwards, and I take the dust jacket off. I don't like,
Starting point is 00:01:34 I don't like that. I'm a reader. Yeah. But it's one of those things where if I fall out of practice, I'll, like, go a while without reading. Sure. And then I picked up another book, and I just kept reading, kept reading, kept reading, because I want to travel to read. And I was like, I can't go, hey, you should read as I scroll on my phone. Exactly. So I started reading.
Starting point is 00:01:54 And now I'm like, yeah, I'm powering through books. I like that. I like that a lot. See, yeah, I'm with you on the dust jackets. I've been cooking up a BS. That's a blue sky, Tim, about how children's book books should not have dust jackets at all. because I'm in bed with Ben reading and the dust jackets falling on me I'm just throw them away now I just throw them away
Starting point is 00:02:11 I also like this because you know if it if it hits traveler in face then you know that's a are you reading tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow no but there were I was reading nuclear war by Annie Jacobson and he was like light reading it what you're reading dad I'm like end of the world yeah he was like oh tell me more I'm like no and if you would like look over and you're like I'm like, you shouldn't, I can't stop.
Starting point is 00:02:37 Stop reading so well. I do a lot of audiobooks on the drive to and from work. And so when I drop Ben off at school, he'll climb in and it'll start up and I'll go to turn off and he always wants to listen. So he, we're done with it now, but he heard a lot of Project Hail Mary. Oh. So I was stoked about that. Traveler very much was with me as I, that's the book that I was reading before this. And he was very much.
Starting point is 00:03:00 So what's going on with Grace now? Yeah. I won't get into that's not this podcast. Spoilers. But can you, you know, Invictus? Oh my God.
Starting point is 00:03:11 100%. That book is insane. Oh my God. I can't wait to go see the movie. You haven't seen the movie? No, we don't have any local family and we don't have a reliable babysitter. So movies are rare for us outside of work.
Starting point is 00:03:23 I'm not going to say anything. Okay. I know what happens. But I also read The Martian, and that movie was not accurate. to the, it wasn't, I know what you're saying. Drew Godd did a great job on the screenplay. Won an Oscar.
Starting point is 00:03:37 Sure did. Or nominated for an Oscar at least. I, I just, it's really hard for me when I read a book. Because when I read the book, I was like, how are you going to make this a movie?
Starting point is 00:03:45 I don't see how you're going to make this movie. A lot of just sitting and talking. You know what I got to me? Burrito. A burrito. Yeah. God, I'm ice. I love you and I trust you so much.
Starting point is 00:03:55 I'm so weird with food. I know. I'm just, I'm counting down. I'm going to see if like that burrito's, you are going to be fine. Fine. Blessing, tell him the... It's a great burrito.
Starting point is 00:04:04 You're gonna be fine. It's not a gross burrito truck. It's a very nice... I don't doubt that. One block up. I don't doubt that. I've only had an upset stomach from that burrito, maybe like...
Starting point is 00:04:13 That's not gonna help them. Out of how many times I've eaten there, though, you know? Seven. If I get diarrhea on this... Like that. Like that? It's gonna happen like that. You have a great outfit.
Starting point is 00:04:26 We haven't talked about this yet. Yeah, what is this? Who are you wearing? You're gonna give me so much shit. No. There is a store in Rome. Okay, yep. I'm gonna give a shit.
Starting point is 00:04:38 I take it back, actually, no. Well, I mean, you look great, because this is like, if you're an audio listener, it looks like he's in the blazers, well, a suit hoodie, but it's the suit, it is the hoodie. These are the most, these are like stretchy. I can fly in this and come straight and look presentable. I literally came right off the plane off of here. No.
Starting point is 00:04:56 And there's a store in Rome. I walked past the store window thing, and I was like, I want all of that. And so the guy goes, okay, I was like, do you have a store in L.A.? He goes,
Starting point is 00:05:06 we don't have a store in the United States. It goes, but if you're on WhatsApp, give me your number, I will give you 20% off free shipping on anything. I'm not plugging it.
Starting point is 00:05:16 No, I know. I love, I just love, that's a great one. Yeah. How much should you set you back? Tell me.
Starting point is 00:05:21 Is that bad? Yeah, because I'd like to wear this kind of outfit. I will hook you. I will give you a number. I'm not saying I'm not saying I can buy it off of place. Don't give you a sideout. I know, it's hard for me to imagine.
Starting point is 00:05:33 Troy can pull it off. You don't think I can pull that off? The sweatshirt blazer? Yeah. Oh, no. I'm gonna take off this sweatshirt. So for you audio listers, that guy is in a little code.
Starting point is 00:05:47 I will. Go ahead. Spiritless Spider-Man. Oh. This photographer. No, no, no, no, no. Oh, I take it back. If I ask you.
Starting point is 00:06:00 Again, it's hanging weird because I'm a much bigger man. To look. Oh, come on. I can rock that. I mean, I wouldn't wear my t-shirt with my face on it with it. Yeah, I think you could do it actually.
Starting point is 00:06:08 If I wore just a plain black shirt. I look like a professor. How comfy is that, though? The real comfy. See? Also, what is your, what's your scent? My scent? Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:17 What are you wearing? Because you always smell like this. Mystery. Yeah, I feel like that's one thing. That's one thing that you got to gatekeep. You can let us know where you have the sweatshirt blazer, but... The scent is for you. This is like what I wanted to wear Megarans's a sweatsuit.
Starting point is 00:06:31 He's like, no. I literally... I don't know if I'm going to give you or Jen this guy's number and be like, this is my buddy. Call him and like he'll hook you up and you'll look amazing. Okay. Remember, Jen, my birthday's two weeks away? Oh, fuck, that's right. I can't believe 61.
Starting point is 00:06:51 Crazy, right? I'm so much old. Everybody, welcome to the kind of funny games cast where we talk about the biggest topics in video games each and every weekday. Of course, if you want to be part of the show, we usually tell you to super chat. but heads up, this is on a delay, as you might have guessed, because of course, Troy Crash. Nice to be here. Podcast on Tuesday. Thank you so much for that. That's the delay.
Starting point is 00:07:11 What? I'm answering the first question. You said, hello to me. I'm on, I'm on a delay. I fucking dislike you. I just like you. Thank you for coming up and doing this and making time to be part of this. Of course, thank you to our producers on patreon.com slash kind of funny.
Starting point is 00:07:23 Carl Jacob. So make a buster and Delaney the song twining for letting us live this little dream that is kind of funny. Of course, you can contribute with a membership, but I'll tell you about that later. For now, let's begin the show with, with what is and forever will be. Topic of the show. Tats, tats, tuts, tuts, tuts. You missed your cue baker.
Starting point is 00:07:40 Damn it. I was, I always, I've seen you do it countless times, but every time I still am, stand in amazement and marveled by the fact that you, there's no teleprompter. You do that off the dome. Yeah, yeah. Not off the dome.
Starting point is 00:07:53 Like you've said it so many times. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, yeah. There's a little audio cues, you know what I mean? But that's how it is when we watch you. What? That kind of funny podcast, just did. Again, as the chat was saying, dropping bars, dropping bars, you were all about it.
Starting point is 00:08:07 I was dropping bars? Yeah, you were. Good stuff on fatherhood. We're not here to talk about fatherhood anymore. We're here to talk about mouse PI for hire. This close to learning a new phrase. Of course, Steam description, join private investigator Jack Pepper. That's you. On a gun, guns blazing jazz fueled adventure in Mouse PI for hire, mouse combines the charm and hand-drawn rubber hose animation inspired by the classic cartoons of the 1930s with the adrenaline and action of an explosive first-person shooter. Developer Fumey Games, publisher-playside. Of course, it released last week on Thursday.
Starting point is 00:08:37 It's out for $30. Me and Andy recommend it. You caught our games cast review of it, each of us giving it a 7 out of 10 and saying it's good and being incredibly excited for the future. Mr. Baker. Yos.
Starting point is 00:08:49 As I said, on the kind of funny podcast, just a second ago, for much bourbon, I love you, and I love you as a friend. We've known each other a long time. This is a real friendship outside of the normal, you know, just somebody I hang out with or whatever. A Rob Paulson. My question for you is your career is so diverse.
Starting point is 00:09:07 And what I love so much about you is that while you are Troy Baker, Joel Miller, the last of us, the highest of heights, you're on the HBO show on top of that. I mean, like, you've ascended to such heights. You still come and do cool little projects
Starting point is 00:09:25 like Mouse P.I. for hire. And even to the point where I've approached you privately and been like, hey, there's some kids in dreams who would love you to record a couple lives. You're like, yeah, no problem. I got it. I'll be an octopus. What do I got to do?
Starting point is 00:09:35 I love this industry. Yeah. And I think that I've, you know, 2013, especially, God damn, that was a long time ago. Yeah. I made a name for myself, not because of my own necessarily decisions, my strategy.
Starting point is 00:09:50 It was just that's, those are the people that cast me in these huge titles. So I got the branded as like the AAA guy. and that's not necessarily who I wanted to be or thought that I was but the fact is, I like good stories, like good, I want to be in a game that I want to play, period.
Starting point is 00:10:09 That's it. And so, when I saw this pop up four years ago, three years ago, whatever it was, I was like, damn, that it looks really, really cool. I was still reeling from Cuphead because that game, fucking, geez, just. And then they happened to reach out. this almost never happens where a game that I was like,
Starting point is 00:10:29 oh, that'd be awesome to be in, calls me as like, hey, we think you could do this. And I was like, all right, I'll listen to you. And we talked and I was like, I think I could give this some fun. If this is what you're wanting to do, are you wanting, what's the tone of the game?
Starting point is 00:10:46 And they were like, 100%, it's a homage to Maltese Falcon in the film noir, but it's viewed through the lens of like naked gun. And I went, I'm in 100%. If we're going to have fun with this and have a humor about it. And I was, I think it was actually traveling with my family. And they're like, we really need to kind of get something done for this trailer.
Starting point is 00:11:10 I was like, well, I'm in London. And they're like, can you record now? I was like, yeah. So I walked into my first session was done in London. And we just jumped on, you know, part, God, cracking the safe is so much fun. I agree. With the whole team And some of them are in Europe
Starting point is 00:11:26 Some of them are in L.A., some of them are in Australia. And so we kind of all gathered around And some had bourbon and some had coffee. And we just dove into what the game wanted to be, what the tone of it was going to be, and who the character was going to be. We had a blast. What does it look like for a game to come through
Starting point is 00:11:42 and have you like, oh, I got to be a part of that? Because when I look at you post Indiana Jones in The Great Circle, which is a game that I really enjoyed. You know, not everybody at this table, but I really that game. That is a role that you're coming into
Starting point is 00:11:54 of a seven. Crazy. Six five. Fucking off. Crazy. Get it right. Insane.
Starting point is 00:12:00 Shit. But you're getting to jump into this legendary role that was played by a legendary actor and I imagine there is a glow coming out of that and being like,
Starting point is 00:12:08 wow, I'm Troy Baker out on top of the world kind of thing. For you talking about mouse PI for hire and then being able to present that to you and being like,
Starting point is 00:12:15 oh damn, that's really cool. Let me jump into that. Like, does that happen as often? Like, what does that look like for a game? No. I will never forget I was on this movie once
Starting point is 00:12:23 nobody saw it but we made a great movie it's called Comanche Moon and I made some great friends on that and one of them was Steve Zon no way you know Steve Zon? Yeah I love him dude he's one of the greatest
Starting point is 00:12:38 humans walking the planet and he's an incredibly fiscously talented actor he just wrote co-wrote a movie that's out right now I cannot be I wish I could remember the name sorry Steve like New Yorker or the New Yorker did an article with him. He's incredible. And he was so surprised to learn that I learned so much from him just by the very nature of him being who he is. She dances. She dances? Yeah, it's about his daughter.
Starting point is 00:13:06 Thank you very much for a letter. She does. I think it's out now. We're coming out soon because they're pounding the pavement on it right now. We rap and he goes, well, back to the audition circuit. And I went, what? He goes, you think I got a script tree in my backyard? He goes, I work for a living. And I was like, wow, it was a big perspective shift for me because I thought I was like, well, okay, I've done a movie. I guess I just make money now. And like, it was like this, tuition that I needed to pay or something and or initiation fee. And what I realized is like, I can come off of, I always say this, Coupa Gooding Jr., his movie after he did, Jerry McGuire was the dog sled movie.
Starting point is 00:13:52 He won the Oscar for Jerry McGuire and the dog sled movie after that. So you're never done. You can never rest on your laurels. So yeah, I'm coming off the glow. This is what I love. I texted you about this too. We're living in the Schrodinger's box right now
Starting point is 00:14:08 because I'm nominated for two BAFTA. And there's people that are watching this that are either going, hooray, or, I don't know. And I don't know. That could be either way that I win. or lose, but it's just funny because I don't know. But I'm nominated for both Indiana Jones and for Higgs and Death Stranding.
Starting point is 00:14:27 Ah, Higgs. And we can talk about that too. It doesn't, it's a wonderful accomplishment and I'm honored to be recognized and all of that. But that doesn't convert into anything. In some ways, I actually learned this in 2013. It was a big, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, from the industry.
Starting point is 00:14:46 Because to come out and do Bioshock Infinite and then do The Last of Us and then do Arkham Origins. People are like, that's enough of that Baker guy. We learned our lesson with Nolan North. We let him in. We cracked the door. He was in everything. We couldn't get him out.
Starting point is 00:14:59 He's in the walls. There was a real problem. He got to talk about Ben Star soon. Oh, man. You'll have a conversation about Ben Star. Look. He'll work for a cookie. That's the problem.
Starting point is 00:15:10 I love Ben. And if he wasn't as talented and charming and nice and handsome, fuck him. but he is all of those things. Yeah, that's a problem. And I don't think he's, I think he's going to be just fine. The problem that Nolan North had
Starting point is 00:15:26 is that it wasn't they cast Nolan North in so many games. They cast Nate Drake in every game. So I had to quickly go, well, I bet you didn't see this coming, or I bet you didn't see this coming, and then still be able to deliver when someone gave me an opportunity.
Starting point is 00:15:42 So when we stepped up to do this, whenever I go, I don't know if I can do that. I'm like, because of Travis Willing, him honestly. I was like, well, shit, now I got to try. And 100%, I don't even know if the deal was done when I did my first session with this.
Starting point is 00:15:59 But I know that I walked in, and they could have been like, thank you so much for coming in. Guys, I think we're, I think we're good. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to go different direction. We're going to go in a different direction. And fortunately, they didn't. Because we had, I did the majority of this from from my home studio, I should have brought this picture.
Starting point is 00:16:22 Traveler, I'm going to tie that into the other podcast. Traveler created this whole character. He's like, are you doing mouse? And I'm like, yeah, he was like, tell him I got a character for him. And he drew a character. No way.
Starting point is 00:16:34 And like, here's the name, had a full backstory for it. And I'm like, fingers crossed, if we do any DLC, you're going to put that character in there. That's awesome. But it's like, to me, it was the art style.
Starting point is 00:16:45 It was the story. and more than anything, it's the team that I love more than anything. Is that rare? Yes, I was going to say common. I was going to go the other way of like, I think, you know, you get to work on so many different projects, which is great, but I was wondering how many are the,
Starting point is 00:17:02 not for you, but the rinse and repeat, here are the lines, here are the thing, we got it down. Thank you so much, Mr. Baker. We'll see you later, versus your son's invested. This team's awesome. You get to see them in person. I mean, that, that, Last part is definitely rare.
Starting point is 00:17:18 But I will say this, if, I don't have a problem saying no to things. And much to the frustration of my agent and even sometimes my wife, she's like, take the job. I refuse to work out of a place to fear. And because the second that I do, I feel like I'm, I don't know,
Starting point is 00:17:42 it's a slippery slope. I just have to always trust, I'm just swinging through the jungle and I'm going from one bind to the next, And I just have to, I let go of this one and just trust that there's going to be one there. And it's a really weird time in the industry right now. And I understand it. I don't blame, but we could have that whole conversation we want to, but I don't blame the industry.
Starting point is 00:18:02 Because if we really want to come down to it, I was just talking to Tim Gettys about this. Like, if you read Matthew Ball's Gaming Report, which a lot of people in the industry did, you'll find out that the number one thing, the number one thing that is contributing to the decline of not only player engagement, but people watching shows and their retention of character and story are notifications. Sure. So we're all guilty of doing this. So I can sit here and blame, you know, C-sweets and everything. But the reality is, is like, I'm guilty of it too.
Starting point is 00:18:30 I'll pull up my phone, but excuse me. And I will disengage from conversation or from watching or from playing just as much as anybody. And until we course correct that, we're not going to see any industry, entertainment or otherwise, rebound from that. But I understand that it's not always going to be trending up. I'm not always going to be like the headliner and everything. I'm going to find this dynamism. And it's my responsibility for me to ride that wave as responsibly as I can. But when somebody comes to me and they go,
Starting point is 00:19:00 we think that you can do this, I've learned at this point to not be arrogant and maybe listen to their opinion. And if they think that I can do something, then I'm going to trust their opinion more than my, because they know more about their game than I do. Sure. So I go, okay, let's give it a shot. And if they ever go, you know what?
Starting point is 00:19:18 And that's happened before. I got fired off of the Max, Mad Max game. Oh, okay. I shot for three days on it, four days, whatever, and they were like, he's not right. And they got Brian Bloom. He did a great job. So, I mean, I'm not always, I don't always say yes or say no when I should, but I always say yes when I should. And it's, it's taken me a long time to finally just learn how,
Starting point is 00:19:44 to use discernment and say say yes less than I'm saying no what does the yes look like for you and what does a no look like for you one of the I watched a movie last night called the drama which I know it's very popular right now it stars Zendaya
Starting point is 00:20:00 okay um and there was a quote that was going around from Zendaya where she was talking about how after this year she has to disappear yeah because this year she's in five movies or whatever she's in Spider-Man she's an Odyssey Dune she's in Dune 3 and she's like, people are, euphoria,
Starting point is 00:20:16 and she's afraid that people are going to get sick of her, right? So she's like, I got to go away for some time and have people miss me a little bit. I think there's, first of all, I applaud her for being aware. I think that also Tom Holland may have a little bit of a, maybe informing that opinion a little bit because he certainly experienced that,
Starting point is 00:20:33 where it's, you know, Tom, Tim Salome is the new Tom Holland. Oh, sure. Whereas he was in everything. Everybody wants Timothy Shalami. Everyone's pitching something is like, well, he's got Timothy Shalamey and Sidney Swain. need it. And I think that you have to have that awareness, but I
Starting point is 00:20:49 would really want to drill down into what she said if there's a difference between I think I need to disappear versus I fear that I have to disappear. Like, you know what I mean? Like, if she's like, maybe people won't like me, it's like, well, why are you doing this? Because if you're doing this, I'm not doing this because I'm afraid people, I'm trying to please people. I did Silent Hill too. There's people that
Starting point is 00:21:11 fucking hate me. You know what I mean? there's people that you could find just as many posts saying that Troy Baker is the worst thing in video games to people that think that Troy Baker is the best thing in video games I hate to speak about myself in the third person so I can't be the reason why I do this there's jobs that I do that are like
Starting point is 00:21:29 you're gonna pay me that many dollars for this okay and there's ones that's like you know what I understand whatever you got will work because I really want to do this project or somebody calls me up as I'll I'll do it for free It's like, well, that's against a setup. I get to choose what I do with my voice or my talents that I've been given.
Starting point is 00:21:50 So I try to make the best decision that I can, but I can't do this because I'm either trying to please people or avoid what I think they want because there is no telling. I'll never forget. I love this team, but we did, Roger Clark and I did a game, and we had an amazing time working on this game. And he and I put in the work. and Roger specifically did an incredible job. I think I did a very good job. I'm proud of both of our work.
Starting point is 00:22:20 But I walked out onto the stage with Jeff Keely to promote a game, and by the time I walked back off that stage, the review embargo had lifted, and we were like in the high 60s, low 70s. I'm still proud of my work. It didn't sell well. I didn't get a lot of awards for it, but I'm proud of what the team did.
Starting point is 00:22:40 I'm proud of what we did. I'm good. And so it's not always about, are people going to like this? Are people not going to like this? Should I go away? Should I not? I get this long, man.
Starting point is 00:22:51 And if someone thinks that I'm good at something, again, it's not saying yes to everything. It's saying yes for the right reasons. I'm folding more hands that I'm in, to use a poker analogy. But she's so talented. Oh, she's incredible. Right?
Starting point is 00:23:07 So I look at that and go, I'm fine with, because her character in Odyssey is nowhere near the character that she's playing in Euphoria. So to me, I look at that and go, wow, she's really, really diverse. But again, it's not my career. It's hers. She gets to do whatever she wants. How many, you talked about, we joked about Nolan and people casting.
Starting point is 00:23:29 We were joking? Certain parts of it. But definitely the reality, what you're talking about, of when it was, people burned out on Nolan because it was, oh, be Nathan Drake, and it was the Assassin's the Void game I make fun of all the time. Dark Void, sure.
Starting point is 00:23:45 Yeah, whatever it was. But it was just go be Nate Drake, go be Nate Drake. It wasn't until like, for a lot of people, it was Batman games when he showed. It was penguin. You're like, oh my God, that's Nolan North. And it was like, oh, right.
Starting point is 00:23:56 For you, do you find that when people are approaching you, are they asking you to experiment? Or are they asking you to be Detroit Baker? Like, can we get Joel? There's a lot of, there have been a, there was one game. pretty soon after Last of Us came out,
Starting point is 00:24:12 they're like, okay, so what we're really looking for is a grizzle survivor and a zombie apocalypse, maybe as a Southern accent, I'm like, hey, you know what? I've done that, man. I think you could find somebody else that could do their take on it.
Starting point is 00:24:29 There's an amazing game coming out right now. Oh my God, Hilford Games. Long gone. Oh, my gosh. Sorry, buddy. Oh, yeah, long gone. And everybody was like, oh, you know, Troy should do this. It's another zombie game.
Starting point is 00:24:42 I'm like, no. And even the, I've been talking to Hilford games just to support him because I love supporting indie devs. And he was like, I want to find somebody that nobody expects. And I'm like, dude, let me help you. Whatever I can do. And I started signal boosting. He was like, he did an open casting call to be able to find the person that's
Starting point is 00:24:59 going to be there next lead. There is, exactly. I'm super excited to play this game. I cannot wait. And especially with the understanding who he's going for in his casting, it's going to be incredible and something completely different than anything else that we've ever seen. So,
Starting point is 00:25:13 I, again, the Nolan North thing is that was such a, Nate Drake is such a great character. He's such a Swiss Army knife solution to no matter what kind of game that it is. I don't blame him. And I think that I, just like Nolan
Starting point is 00:25:31 did with Penguin and so many, he was Blaze. Did you guys ever get into Blaze? Yes, of course we have. To which I of T. Blazing the monster machines. It's a... Let's Blaze! Yeah, yeah, right.
Starting point is 00:25:41 Gotcha. I'm... One of my... One of my many gifts is a good ear for all y'all. Where when you pop up, I'm like,
Starting point is 00:25:49 that's Troy. Okay, whatever. And so like, when Ben put on, we put on Blaze for the first time and I was like doing... And I was like, wait a second.
Starting point is 00:25:56 I was like, play it again. I'm like, that's Nolan. And then even like, the Disney storybooks on Spotify where Nolan's like narrating Frozen.
Starting point is 00:26:03 I'll text him all time. Like, I cannot get away from you. Dude. Right, it's hilarious because Traveler, we do the call map, and so a lot of times when we're going to sleep, we'll listen to like whatever story or whatever.
Starting point is 00:26:15 Traveler for a while has been stuck on one story that is Robin versus the Restless Night, K-N-I-G-H-T, narrated by Matt Mercer. I'm like, I text him and just like, I fall asleep listening to you every night. But a funny story, it's not a, it's not a,
Starting point is 00:26:36 It's not a secret. There was a brief period of time where Nolan and I were on the outs, right? As all friends are wanted to do. But right around that time is when Traveler discovered Blaze, and so that's all that was playing in the living room. I'm just like, yes, Daddy will let you watch Blaze. It was great. I love him being able to tell him that.
Starting point is 00:26:58 But most people don't know what Nolan is truly capable of. Oh, yeah. They know him for his voice because it's such a good, believable voice. But that is, there was a quote, Jimmy Vaughn, who was the brother,
Starting point is 00:27:10 Stevie Ray Vaughn, said, I play 90% of what I know. He's a great guitarist. He goes, Stevie played about 10. And Stevie Ray Vaughan is known as the greatest car.
Starting point is 00:27:19 He's like, if you knew what he was capable of playing, he only, he, what made him so good as he had the taste to only play was appropriate. And that's Nolan.
Starting point is 00:27:27 Nolan, if people knew what he was capable of, the range that he has, not only as from a vocal ability, but also just from an acting ability, you lose your mind. And he only lets you see about 10 to 20%. And that has won accolades and awards
Starting point is 00:27:44 and established franchises. Don't even think that no one and I don't like each other. I love that man. Same thing with Jennifer Hale. When I bump into Jennifer Hale a lot nowadays on the storybooks or whatever. And I'm like, damn, like, I won't even catch it
Starting point is 00:27:59 for the longest time and then she says something. She's so good. Commander Shepard, wait, there it is. Okay, I know what we're talking about. I can always tell people by their efforts, like their screams, their yells, their falls. I was like, son of a bitch, that's Fred Tatashore. I forget what it was.
Starting point is 00:28:13 I think it was Barrett who caught you in something. And he's like, that's the persona for effort Troy does. And I'm, damn it, you're right. And I didn't get to that. I'm very limited. I'm very, very limited. Speaking of Fred Tatasurer, Fred Tatasurer is in our game. He plays John Brown.
Starting point is 00:28:27 And I didn't know that until I heard it was like, is that Fred? And they're like, yeah, we've got Fred Tattoo. And they're like, whoa. I'm so opposite from Barrett and Greg, where I can never. catch a voice actor and anything that I consume. And so I was telling you outside there that like I'm, I was playing screamer and I get to the credits and I see your name pop up in the credits. And I was like,
Starting point is 00:28:44 you were the villain? Like you were this guy the entire time, right? And like, I find that so impressive when I'm able to like see that, but then also see Higgs and death straining too and go, damn, like, Troy's killing it in here. Or then see Indiana Jones. And like, for me,
Starting point is 00:28:58 if people aren't telling me that that's you, I cannot tell that that's you. And for me, that is such a talent to have, right? that is like the being able to morph into these different characters. You didn't should stay on me for that. Damn,
Starting point is 00:29:12 you bear it on the outside of it. Is that, is that your superpower? Like, what do you look at as the thing that makes Troy Baker, Troy Baker? What was the podcast about before? Dad,
Starting point is 00:29:20 Dadcast. Yeah. That, that's my superpower. That's, that's when I feel like I'm, I'm capable of anything is when, when Traveler tells me that I,
Starting point is 00:29:29 that, uh, I do a good job. Um, I don't know, man. you only see what I can do. You don't what I mean? You don't see the roles that I've gone out for
Starting point is 00:29:40 and not gotten them. You don't see the takes that I blew it and they fortunately trashed that. You don't see my bad. You only see my good. And that is more to the credit of the team and their ability to cobble together something that works for their game
Starting point is 00:29:57 based upon whatever I did, the input that I gave. So it's one of the reason is why I love games so much is that something puts a camera on me. Theater, first of all, holy crap. Theater is, man, you are out there, it is you.
Starting point is 00:30:14 I have watched people bomb. Comedy is the same way. It is you for seven minutes. Scarpino is like, dude, one of the bravest forms of entertainment, because it is just you, and it is fresh every night. And I did comedy twice. One time, I killed,
Starting point is 00:30:30 and the second time I bombed. And I was like, nope, it's not me. a comic can get up and be that, do that. Pete Holmes is a buddy of mine. I'm like, I don't know how you do it. And I remember one time after one of his sets, he goes, man, you guys were weird tonight. I was like, you killed.
Starting point is 00:30:45 He was like, no, man, I kept trying to go, show me your 10. I need to know where your 10 is, so I don't hit it too early because I know where I need to go. And if I hit your 10, I'll never get you after that. And I was like, he was like,
Starting point is 00:30:59 I was moving stuff around. I saw the same set that he did out close to my house and then in Vancouver. And the difference between where things say was like different crowd, man. I had a difference between 500 people and like 2,500 people, whatever it was.
Starting point is 00:31:15 You play it differently. And making a game is such a collaborative thing to where I'm in my little booth specifically with this kind of setup to where it's me, a mic, a script, and a Zoom call. And it's up to us to kind of
Starting point is 00:31:32 go, okay, I'm trusting them because they know how this is going to sit in engine. I don't yet. To me, I'm in a story beat, right? But they're going, okay, we just came out of this. Oh, so how is, I know that you want to give this specific kind of performance, but we also know there's nothing worse than coming out of a big boss battle and hearing somebody go, so I knew that I had to fight. You're like, that's not what just happened, man. You should be like, that was close. Like, it's the understanding of what's the moment before
Starting point is 00:32:03 and the moment after, which is something that an actor typically concerns themselves with but never really understands in a game because more often than not, when you're making a game, you're going to hear these words.
Starting point is 00:32:16 We don't know yet. And it's the actor's responsibility to trust. That's all you can just go, got it. And I know there's so many devs that are sitting there going, why didn't you just trust us?
Starting point is 00:32:29 Baker, but, you know, it's my job to push against and then find out what my, what my barriers are and how much, that's collaboration to me. I think as someone who knows your work so well and knows you so well, right, if blessing would have been kind enough to ask me, what's Troy Baker superpower? I would have honestly said, I think it's what makes so many of the great voice actors special. And the superpower, I think is empathy as an actor, where I think, I think, think when I think about you and Laura and Travis and Dave, andinole and Melissa, like the list goes on of people who have come in. I'm like, holy crap, you're like you're on another level.
Starting point is 00:33:07 Rob Pulsome. It really is this idea that y'all experience the emotions in a way where I feel like I see five colors and you see 30. Like it's that I'll never forget, Troy, I don't even know if it was a moment that would ever stand out for you. But you put on an album and it was pretty dang good. And everyone should go listen to it. And when you came up and played in San Francisco,
Starting point is 00:33:28 you played a very small club. It was the milk bar maybe. Was that what else? Yeah, milk bar. Went and saw it and I was like row two and it was great. And in the middle of a song, you stopped. You got choked up. And then you went back into it.
Starting point is 00:33:43 And I was like, that was an interesting thing. And again, I don't know music the way I know other forms of live entertainment. And I know comedy, especially from seeing Nick so much and, you know, his experience with it. And I was like, oh, this must be something he does in the song that he, you know what I mean, whatever. And afterwards, we went out for drinks and dinner, and Pam turned to you. It was like, so what happened in that song? And I was like, oh, that was genuine. And it was, I'm going to get it all wrong.
Starting point is 00:34:08 But it was, I want to say, something had happened in Paris. There had been some kind of terrorist attack or something or a knife attack. Yeah. And your song was tied to that or in your memory was. And it hit you in that moment. And you live that moment on stage. And it was like, damn, that's, you're seeing five. D, you know what I mean, when I'm just reading a page.
Starting point is 00:34:30 And I think that carries over to your work so well, where it, obviously, you want to jump to The Last of Us and Joel. You want to jump to the big, big, bombastic roles where there are this meaty store. But I've seen you do that with so many roles to your point of talking to a developer, talking to whoever is in the VO room with you or the Zoom call with you about what is the motivation here. And this is what I'm feeling. And not in a aristocratic, I'm smelling my own farts actor way, but in a way of I'm
Starting point is 00:34:58 I'm living this moment right now, and I think that's why you're so special. Thank you, dude. I take that compliment. And I do remember that moment. And I think that every actor works differently, and there's not a bad way to do it. I think that any time your process encroaches upon others,
Starting point is 00:35:20 whether it be cast or crew, that behavior should be checked privately. but my job is you know I there is I look at this as this is a real person having a real moment in a real world with other real people that's what's happening
Starting point is 00:35:38 and Tom Keegan one of my favorite moments with him as a director is he was like this is all bullshit it's all bullshit stop trying to pretend that it's real it's not but this is real So we can play this moment and then let them put the character model over you and the backdrop and the set upon you and the context of everything.
Starting point is 00:36:02 Let them worry about that. Right now just have a real moment. So whatever you're feeling in this moment is right. I feel lost and confused. Great. Play that. No, no, no, no. I need to understand.
Starting point is 00:36:12 I need to feel confident. Why? Why do you need to feel confident? No, you don't. It's amazing to find a hero that's caught in a moment of vulnerability. Play that. That's all you have to do. Play this moment.
Starting point is 00:36:22 because you know what? If it doesn't work, fuck it. We'll do it again. We'll do another one. But for this take, play whatever you're feeling in this moment. Perfect example is you look at Raiders. The scene where there was a whole choreographed scene where Indiana Jones, with his whip,
Starting point is 00:36:37 was going to go against the guy with the scimitar. And what happens? Pulls out the gun and he shoots him. Why? Because Harrison Ford had dysentery. And he was shitting his pants and all he wanted to do was get through that one setup so he can go back to his trailer
Starting point is 00:36:52 and continuing to shit himself. That's the whole reason why that happens. Harrison Ford is responsible for some of the greatest moments of cinematic history, but by the very nature of being who he was. I know, completely improvised line. It's those moments where you go, hey, worst case scenario is they don't use this,
Starting point is 00:37:10 but this is what I'm feeling in this moment. Sometimes it works to my benefit. Other times, it works to my detriment. And I have to rely on the team going, that's incredible. That's amazing. It won't work. And let me tell you why.
Starting point is 00:37:26 And those are the kind of relationships that I try to build. Those are the teams that I want to work with because I feel comfortable and brave enough to fail and they're open enough to maybe have their minds changed.
Starting point is 00:37:39 And it's like, huh, maybe this is a quiet moment. We thought, any team that deals in terms of adjectives I'm instantly allergic to, you're angry. Okay? What does angry mean?
Starting point is 00:37:51 Well, you know, you're yelling. Yelling. Got it. I get really, really quiet when I get angry. You'll know when I'm angry, so I'm not talking. When you say angry, I'm going to get really quiet. You want me to be loud, so you want me to impose myself upon you. That's playable.
Starting point is 00:38:07 Angry is not playable. Tragic is not playable. So you want verbs. Give me. I think it was Ethan Hawk that said this. Adjectives are for critics, verbs are for actors. It was a video I saw in the last week. I was talking about the same exact thing,
Starting point is 00:38:22 and I think it was the idea of the direction shouldn't be, and he loves her. It is, she walks in, and his heart melts when he sees her. Like, that is something that you can, you can do something with it. Can I play that? What can I play? Some of the best direction, actually, believe it or not,
Starting point is 00:38:37 was Fortnite. J.B. Blanc, I'm going to give him credit for this. So you're not going to think that, probably surprised you that was like, so the best direction I've ever gotten was from Fortnite. I knew Neil Druckman sucked. but he had hack Jabby looked at me
Starting point is 00:38:54 and he was like don't mourn it yet right now be awed by it I was like the grief of what that means the gravity if it could happen first is like oh no
Starting point is 00:39:03 that's the moment you're in right now don't mourn it yet it's gonna be gone soon but right now you're recognizing the fact that it's gone and I didn't give anything away
Starting point is 00:39:13 from 4-9 don't worry but to me that is exactly what I'm supposed to do as an actor's play this moment play it moment to moment. Where's my character?
Starting point is 00:39:21 I want to know where I'm going. He's like, don't just play. This is the moment that you're in right now. And whenever I do that, whenever I extend my hand for it to be held as opposed to impose, that's what I do my best work. Hell yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:35 We're going to have more with Troy Baker after a word from our sponsors. Remember, of course, you don't have to sit through the ads. If you get a membership, YouTube.com slash kind of funny games, Patreon.com slash kind of funny YouTube. No, that's, yeah,
Starting point is 00:39:47 YouTube, Spotify, Apple. You know how to go get it. Troy's going to read another passage from his book while we do this. Of course, if you get us a membership, you get everything ad for you. That's more than 80 episodes a month. You'd get your daily dose of me, Greg Miller, and a podcast series on the Daily for 15 to 20 minutes called Greg Way. And of course, you'd get good karma for supporting an 11 person, 11-year-old small business.
Starting point is 00:40:07 But right now you're not using your benefits. So here's a word from our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by Warby Parker. Buhr. Buying eyeglasses was always a whole to do before Warby Parker came into so many. of our lives. Greg, Gia, Joey, me, all of us hated how buying glasses always felt so complicated and overpriced, and often the styles were just super outdated. But Warby Parker, total game changer. Nothing comes close on quality, price, selection, and customer service. You can literally try on glasses from your phone before you buy it with their virtual try-on. Greg says it's wild,
Starting point is 00:40:43 how well it actually works. And a super cool thing is Warby Parker is covered by major eye insurance plans. That's how Gia got hers. They make it incredibly easy to use. You just enter your information to see if you are eligible for benefits on frames, contacts, or eye exams. And if you are, they automatically apply them for you. Right now, buy one prescription pair and get 20% off any additional prescription pairs
Starting point is 00:41:08 at Warbyparker.com slash kind of funny. That's 20% off additional prescription pairs when you go to W-A-R-B-Y Parker.com slash kind of funny. So Mr. Baker, we did all this highfalutin acting. How's that translate to you playing a mouse? Right? Yeah, right.
Starting point is 00:41:27 Like, I mean, it's like you're, I think it's easy when we're talking about you're holding your daughter, she's been wounded this, but then you're like, I'm Jack Pepper and I'm going to drink fondue
Starting point is 00:41:36 because I'm down on my luck and yet da da da da. Barry Sonafeld, if you, uh, his two books out, uh, call your mother and absolute,
Starting point is 00:41:47 best possible place. worst possible time. I fully recommend the audiobooks. Barry Sondonfeld is like, I mean, he directed men in black. He was the cinematographer on Raising Arizona. I mean, the guy's got an incredible, incredible filmagery.
Starting point is 00:42:08 He talks about how you never want to play the comedy. Don't play the comedy. It's like, yeah, I'm trying to be funny. It's like, nope, don't try to. be funny, just come in and just, you play it straight. Jack Pepper has no idea he's in a comedy. Jack Pepper, to him, this is his real life. He has a real mystery that he has to solve. Everything else around it is what makes it funny. Everything else around, the timing of it, all the other characters, but he has to be the one thing that's kind of like anchored in this. So, like, to me,
Starting point is 00:42:39 I'm like, I'm not, I'm not going as like, how do you do this? And he's not, to him being a mouse is not, isn't that hilarious? Of course. Right? Just, just play a real person. And especially, I've experienced this before with stuff like Bioshock, where you're like, how do I sell this with this? All I've got is this. Which, by the way, I play more with Mitz than I do anything else. It is, like, the boomstick is great and everything. But I love just going in just like Captain and Lieutenant, I don't have a cute
Starting point is 00:43:15 words. You haven't named your fist yet. Okay. Lightning and thunder, that'd be good. Lighting and thunder, thunder, thunder, and lightning. There you go. This always happens first, and then this is second. No, to me it was understanding,
Starting point is 00:43:28 really using Leslie Nielsen as kind of a... Sure. You know, Humphrey Bogart meets Leslie Nielsen and having that thing where it's that... It's that... The lighting is doing a lot of the work, the animation is doing a lot of the work, but the music is doing so much of it.
Starting point is 00:43:44 But just don't try to sell the joke. Just don't sell the joke. Let the joke sell itself. Was this the first voice that you did for Jack Pepper when you stepped into the role? Or like, when they gave you the pitch and you were like, all right, here, I got it? Yeah, we were sitting there in that booth in London and I
Starting point is 00:44:01 was like, okay, you know, everyone's waiting, right? Because we've all signed on. There was no audition. It wasn't like... This is the great Troy Baker. They don't need to worry. I don't audition. If they make me audition, I quit.
Starting point is 00:44:17 Under no circumstance. You must audition. I'm not going to do it. But yeah, we're all pot committed, and they're like, they can always, you know, worst case scenario costs them, you know, sets it back a little bit and they move on, they find somebody else. But what do they think costs them time. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:44:31 But a lot of ways, I've seen this before with like, glad we spent that money to find out what we don't want. I've had that word, unnecessarily with me. Of course. Where other people we've castes like, who's like, that's not the right person for this. I shot something one time. in my, as a director, first shot,
Starting point is 00:44:50 first scene, first setup, two actors, both great actors, two actors, 28 takes later. I'm like, yeah, we gotta recast this guy.
Starting point is 00:45:06 It's not gonna work. And he would have worked great in another role. This one wasn't for him. Buddy, that's on us. And the executive producer comes over to me and he was like, you're absolutely sure you can't salvage this. I was like, cannot salvage it.
Starting point is 00:45:19 He goes, it's about a $250,000 mistake. And I was like, heard. He's like, can't happen again. I was like, hurt. And I had to take it on the chin. But we found out what the character couldn't be and what it needed to be.
Starting point is 00:45:32 So there's nothing wrong with that. But when I walked in and they were like, just let's, you know, that's, uh, Josh Dean was our performance director. And he was like, let's hear what you got. Cook it up there, Baker, what you got? Here are just butt holes, tightening as and you know
Starting point is 00:45:47 I was like I so it's we've got like a city vibe for this so it kind of needs to feel like it's not New York but leaning east coasts are like sure and so I kind of like teed myself up to where it's it's gonna be
Starting point is 00:46:01 kind of natural as like we probably want this to feel like it belongs and it's like yeah so it seems to me that maybe something down here would be right and they were like silent I'll go oh no this is you know maybe I hear Josh kind of like
Starting point is 00:46:16 lean a speggle, well it's just, and we export all the ways like, just what do you sound like? I was like, you know, this is Jack and I was like, my fear is that it's going to be me and people are like to like, yeah, so and we kind of went all the way around after the first you know 30 minutes or so and then we landed
Starting point is 00:46:33 on that guy. That's fascinating. Is it? Yeah, for sure. It's very bored you. What does it look like when you have that creative collaboration with in that scenario where it sounds like it is, is okay we can have this back and forth. We can be able to work together
Starting point is 00:46:48 versus something that's not as smooth. Defined smooth. Is it not smooth because, okay. Like maybe they're not as open to the collaboration. Yeah, so there's two reasons why. Either A, they're not open, which is just as much my fault as it is theirs. Because I should have had more conversant.
Starting point is 00:47:10 Whenever someone expressed interest or I express interest in a game, first thing that I want to do, before we talk money, before we talk anything else, let me get on the phone with the creative. Let's jump on it. It's so easy now. Let me jump on a Zoom.
Starting point is 00:47:22 I've flown up to studios before. It's like, I'm on my dime. I'll go to Seattle or New York or London sometimes. Let me sit and meet with the team. No, London twist my arm. Oh, no. Oh, are you in here? I had no problem sitting down with the creative and going,
Starting point is 00:47:38 I don't know if I'm the right solution for this, but I'm willing to explore if you are. If we find out by the end of the conversation that I'm not, no harm, no foul, know that you've got a day one player. Cool, because I'm interested in your game. But if I haven't identified the fact that, ooh, we've got a, maybe it's a writer, maybe there's an animation director that really has their own kind of feel of how this should be.
Starting point is 00:48:02 If I haven't identified where those problems are and gone, let's make sure that we are all synced up, that we're all making the same game. a lot of times I find out once we've all gotten in the car and on our way to Disneyland that we're not all driving in the same direction I was giving my question is how far have you gotten to that process
Starting point is 00:48:22 before you realize oh no this is not a good fit here typically I find out pretty damn quick when I hear a lot of times a writer go don't worry I'm not precious about my riding I mean be it like yes you are because you wouldn't tell me that
Starting point is 00:48:38 and this is not to knock any writers because I've heard writers say that and have sincerely meant it but for the most part it's more about hey can I try this first of all I really have changed the way that I work whereas before we're like we need to change this
Starting point is 00:48:54 line now I come and this is thanks to Neil Druckman I'll be like hey is there something about this line or this scene or this story or this character that I don't understand and they may go oh you know what we completely forgot to tell you.
Starting point is 00:49:10 It's a famous story that Al Pacino when he was doing heat. You know, that's where we get a lot of those she's got a great ass, those big performances, right? Well, a lot of people know this, but his character
Starting point is 00:49:27 was a cocaine addict. And so here's a cop that's doing blow throughout the entire movie and is gacked out of his mind so that when you get that scene, between he and Robert De Niro and the diner. De Niro's looking at him like, dude,
Starting point is 00:49:45 I, you're like, you just did a rail before you sat down? Did you do a bump in the car? I can tell that you're high, and you're going to judge me? You have the moral high ground over me? It makes that whole thing so interesting.
Starting point is 00:49:59 Michael Mann cut it out of the movie. And so Pacino found out, he was like, I base my entire character. Oh, but a cocaine. And now that it's out, it's like, it changes things. So I always want to make sure, is like, hey, is there anything about this character,
Starting point is 00:50:14 anything about this story, anything you haven't told me yet? Because maybe there is something like, oh, God is like, yeah, Ken Levine kept the fact that, you know, you can't have any romantic relationship with each other. It's like, you go, stop flirting. It's like, that's not where this story is going. So to me, it's always important to identify that as quickly as possible. So if I start sniffing around,
Starting point is 00:50:38 and feeling that kind of obstruction or that obstacle or the roads aren't as smooth, I'm going to stop and I'm going to ask some questions. But typically what happens, the reason why that happens is because that's not happening back at the studio. And there's some animation director wants to take it in this direction,
Starting point is 00:50:54 but the narrative director wants to take it in this direction, the creative director is trying to wrangle those two. But all of that comes, makes itself very well known when we're all either on the stage or in the booth together. this is kind of I guess funny
Starting point is 00:51:10 asking the horse about why the rider wants to do something but in your instance why would a Ken Levine or anybody want to hold that back why would they want to or not have told you something like that that's key to your character because it doesn't matter
Starting point is 00:51:26 it doesn't matter and even Tom Keegan and I had this fight you know why do you need to know this because I need to know to understand. He's like, no, you're afraid. You're afraid that you're saving your big moment for that big scene and you want to make sure that you want to find your 10. It's like, this isn't comedy. You're not a comic. You're not up here by yourself. Just trust me. And some of the best advice that Tom gave me
Starting point is 00:51:52 were on set for Indiana Jones is I had, I've told this story several times, but I had this moment where on Friday, I was holding on so tight to the character that I hadn't allowed anything else to really come in. I was like, I just, I was trying to do an impression and really wow people with, whoa. He sounds like Harrison Ford. Exactly. And there was one line, Tony Todd got me really drunk Friday night, because he knew that I needed to blow off some steam. And I, over the weekend, nursed one hell of a hangover.
Starting point is 00:52:30 And watched Raiders, and there was this one line that stood out to me where it was like, just trust it'll be there. or sorry, that's what Tom Keegan told me. Take two. There's one line when Indiana Jones goes, I don't know, I'm making this up as I go. And so I show up on Monday morning and Tom Keegan looks at me and he goes, just trust it'll be there.
Starting point is 00:52:49 I'm like, fuck, I haven't just let this happen without it being so calculated and controlled. And I didn't even plan that. You'll be surprised how often it lines up where you're talking about something and then it pops in the screen, you're pretty stoked about it. A snake,
Starting point is 00:53:07 no. I was about a metal, gear, and solid. It's like walking through peace. So I, I try to, I have no idea.
Starting point is 00:53:19 Just like, snake just blew me off. Hold on. I love you. I made a peace walker reference. I did have a peace walker. Man after my own heart on that one. Thank you so much.
Starting point is 00:53:28 Something, something piffy. Trust that it'll be there. Yeah, we'll be there. Thank you, Jesus. You're welcome. And the second that I did that is when I
Starting point is 00:53:39 realized that I don't necessarily need to know where this is going. I don't need to know every moment. And a lot of times I'm in that situation because they're like, we don't know yet. Now, as far as the story, you should have the overall story be written before you go to a stage or a booth. But there's sometimes like, we don't necessarily know that yet.
Starting point is 00:54:02 But Ken Levine was, wanting to have that moment of, you know, everyone's doing the scene in Star Wars and they go, or Empire and go, she's my sister. And he definitely, he definitely got that moment. I know, I mentioned earlier, right? Like, you've done so much. Well, you've been Indiana Jones. You've been a mouse.
Starting point is 00:54:24 You know what I mean? You've been Joel Miller. You've been in an anime racing game. Is there a challenge left for Troy Baker that it is? I need to do this or I want to do this. Yeah. I mean, every day. There's, I'm not done.
Starting point is 00:54:41 I think that my best work is ahead of me, not behind me. Yeah. I think that I, whenever we wrap on a job and it's the last thing, I'm like, okay, now I'm ready to start. Now I know how to do this. I get the character now. Yeah, I get the character. I get the story.
Starting point is 00:54:59 Oh my gosh. There's something that I've just discovered about this. even like with Death Stranding like I found out at the game awards after party that the reason why Higgs plays guitar is because Hideo watched me on Instagram live playing guitar and singing like bro
Starting point is 00:55:19 but I realize Higgs didn't need to know that there was nothing as like oh hey the creator of this game that I'm in watch somebody no that makes sense right so i didn't need to know that what i needed to do is trust and nothing that net never changes but as far as challenges man absolutely i you're right i've had an incredible opportunity to work with
Starting point is 00:55:46 literally the best in the world and have continued to work off their good graces and them giving me a chance um i never say i've been lucky because that discounts the hard decision that these creators made to cast me. It's not luck. They made a choice. They were brave. They trusted. And together we delivered.
Starting point is 00:56:10 That's why it's a success story. Otherwise, again, I've shipped 70s. I've shipped 60s. They're not all bangers, but I'm always proud of the work that we did and the teams that I worked with.
Starting point is 00:56:22 But the challenges that lie ahead for me, I think, are to be able to take those tenants and principles, lessons, and losses and be able to form something new out of that. I want to tell my own stories. I want to proliferate the wisdom
Starting point is 00:56:39 and the experience of those other great studios and bad that have given me and be able to fold that into new experiences and try my hand at it and build it. I want to build a team. I've always been a guy that... I love that you talk about that time where I played solo.
Starting point is 00:56:55 I've done it a lot. I played a lot of solo shows. Man, there's nothing like being in a band. There's nothing like laying back and realizing that it's not just this guitar and vocal that's carrying this, but man, just take a second and let John Titterington on keys just go to work. And so I'm excited about building a studio with people that I've worked with that I trust and going, here's my idea, how can you make it better? So you want to make games?
Starting point is 00:57:21 Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, dude. How far out from that are what you think? I don't know, man. We're talking. You know, there's people that are, most of the, you know, most of the, you know, I'm not. most people in this industry
Starting point is 00:57:31 go, dude, I thought you were just an actor. I'm like, no, if you ever work with me, you'll find out very quickly that I'm like, Jesus, God, you're like, huge dork. Massive dork. And also, like, I want to know, what does this do? What does this do? What does this button do? And I've never been the guy that just says
Starting point is 00:57:47 my lines, hit my mark, goes back to my trailer, goes home. I've always wanted to be like, tell me how this works. And so fortunately, some of the conversations that I'm having now are, well, what would it look like if you did that with us. And I just, somebody asked me in a conversation,
Starting point is 00:58:04 goes, what's your timeline? And I said, not rushed. Ah, what a name? Because I've seen a lot of people that have rushed into opportunities. And even if they made a hell of a game, it's still like, whoof, to do that again and deliver is really, really hard. So I want to do it right. And especially if I'm going to create a studio where other people are going to be responsible
Starting point is 00:58:24 for my choices, I have to make the right ones. Does the state of the industry scare you at all when it comes to that? You know, I've seen Abu with his studio. I think he said that he's finishing up like what will be, I think, his last game or second to last. I forget which one he said. But he put out three games or he, yeah, three games in the last however many years, four years, four years, super quick.
Starting point is 00:58:46 And I can tell and he's talked about like, man, it's rough out here, right? Like, how does that hit you when you think about these goals and aspirations that you have? So I, I've learned this from not. people like Abu who I love and admire but I also have talked to other people who do this you have to make
Starting point is 00:59:07 hard calls there's a game that I're a movie that I reference all the time that most people wouldn't think that I do but the core with Hillary Swank and there's a moment between her and Bruce
Starting point is 00:59:23 I can't think of his name you look it up Willis? Not Bruce Willis. Bruce Greenwood. And thank you, Brain. Got there. And Bruce Greenwood is the captain.
Starting point is 00:59:35 Hillary Swank is, sits right seat to her, is the co-captain essentially. And he can tell that she really wants to be in that commander chair. And he goes, you're not ready yet. Not because you can't make the right moves, but you're not ready to make the wrong ones. You can't live with the consequences of making the wrong ones. You have to make the tough calls. And that's what's keeping you from being here. And the people.
Starting point is 00:59:57 that I respect the most are not necessarily the ones that are Vince Ampella. That's the one that, that, uh, I look to, no, and this is not a discount to Ken or Neil, um, Mike Bithel, who I think is an incredible game maker and, and studio head, but nobody has done or did what Vince Ampella did. Nobody. Nobody had that many hits with that mini studios over that a long of time. Nobody and I don't think anybody will ever touch that his record.
Starting point is 01:00:38 So anytime you talk to Vince, I talked to him a few days before he died and we were having breakfast and he was like I got to get back to the studio and I was like it's Sunday, what are you doing? He's like we just shipped
Starting point is 01:00:54 man, it's hard out there. We got to make sure that this game is patched up and ready to go. and he was always with his team. He was always with his studio. He was always playing the game. He was always thinking about what the player experience was. And for me, the thing that I will not do
Starting point is 01:01:10 is put other people who've trusted me in a position. This is what my dad did. When people go, I believe in you and I trust you. And I don't provide enough runway for us to fail. So if that means that I don't get to have my dream of being a studio whatever head, And so be it. But I won't put other people,
Starting point is 01:01:30 I won't make them the casualties of my mistakes. So it may never happen. I don't know. Or I could, I'm not good enough to be Lucas Pope. I can't do, you know, at all myself. Or Mike Bithel. Mike Bithel made a game by himself, essentially.
Starting point is 01:01:46 So I say all this to say, when the time is right, it will be right. And I do believe that whatever we as a team together, not me, will be something that is truly great, but I'm not scared of what's happening because I can't work out of fear.
Starting point is 01:02:07 I have to work out of faith. I have to believe that it's going to get better. And I, if I want to, I can look to the left and the right and get really, really overwhelmed. And I can get filled with anxiety over this and that, of the industry and everything else. But that's not what I'm here to do. What I'm here to do is focus on the task that's in front of me.
Starting point is 01:02:26 and right now everything's okay. Like I'm living and breathing, my family is fine. It's all I got to do. I'm living, I'm breathing, my family is fine. And if that is my mantra, and I continue to pull people in with me that are truly talented, that are single-minded and focused on making something
Starting point is 01:02:40 that's truly great, they can somehow speak to the human condition, that can somehow make someone's day, much less their life even better. That's all I can focus on. If I do that, that'll be enough an accomplishment for me. Hell yeah.
Starting point is 01:02:53 I'm looking forward to playing the Troy Baker video. Oh, man. Me too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't wait to see it. You'll give it a 6.5. Fuck you, Troy, beg. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been a fantastic games cast.
Starting point is 01:03:04 I could go on for hours and hours and hours. Troy, thank you so much for making the time to come up here. Anytime, baby. Of course, everybody, mouse, P.I. for hire is available right now. Just 30 bones. No big deal. Go pick it up. Enjoy it.
Starting point is 01:03:17 Listen to Troy as Jack Pepper. That's right. Everybody. Go do what I got a case to crack. Oh, my goodness. Of course, your day here is far from over because, It is Monday, right? April 20th, right?
Starting point is 01:03:29 Sure. Sometimes things move around. Maybe it isn't, but it was supposed to be. If that is the case, you're about to get an episode of Kind of Feudy, which will be a lot of fun and talk about the cameo that has to happen in Wolverine PlayStation 5. Of course, after that, Mike and Roger are doing drugs. I don't know. Even though they did take a dare pledge.
Starting point is 01:03:46 Of course, if you like this, like, subscribe, share, ring the bell, do all that. But most importantly, pick up a kind of funny membership. Patreon.com slash kind of funny. YouTube.com slash kind of funny games. Apple, Spotify, you toss us $10. We give you everything we do, ad free, a daily dose of me, Greg Miller for 15 to 20 minutes. And of course, good karma for supporting 11 person, 11 year old small business. Until next time, oh, did you find a good passage? What is, what is that word?
Starting point is 01:04:13 Solution? Oh, God, until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you. You learn something new every day.

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