NARF! with Rob Paulsen

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Pinky's won you an Emmy.
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It's made an impact on so many people.
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But what is it?
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And your wife finds him very attractive.
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You better find your peers and cues on that part.
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I'm old.
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I'm all grown up.
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Our guest today is a legendary voice actor hailing from the Wolverine state of Michigan.
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He's an author, a musician, a diehard Red Wings fan, a cancer survivor.
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He'll tell you that he's been in the biz so long that he was the entertainment at the Last Supper.
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He's voiced over 1,400 characters at the time of this recording, including the eldest Warner brother, the lovable Cockney Foil and best friend of a megalomaniac rodent, not one, but two teenage mutant ninja turtles and Jimmy Neutron's llama-obsessed best friend.
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He's open for Bob Seeger.
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He's won an Emmy.
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He's been rich and he's been poor, and he'll tell you that rich is better.
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But the real value in what he does is the joy that he continues to bring us all.
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Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Rob Paulson.
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Oh my goodness.
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I why bother going on?
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I don't know that I could have ever, ever anticipated or created a more auspicious opening.
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Thank you so much, man.
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I I'm all of what you said is is true.
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Even the part where you were very you've been nice about everything.
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But yeah, I I am I am a perfect example uh that um we make shows for the kid and all of us.
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Yeah and uh the moment I submit that uh we lose that, then you start to get wrapped up in all this stuff that doesn't matter as much as we think, and you become inured to the really bad stuff.
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So now we see really bad stuff happening in the world right now, not to go for it, but to be able to have um opportunities like this and share the utter joy uh that we can find in each other and in people like you who are creative and and want to share that incredibly happy energy.
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Man, well done, brother.
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That's excellent.
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Good for you.
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Thank you, thank you, Rob.
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Thank you.
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Hey, listen, um if if you're looking for a guy to introduce you on the road, I'm available.
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Right.
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Well, I tell you, man, I'm on my way.
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Where am I going?
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This weekend I'm going back to Detroit, which is nice.
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But uh yeah, I uh these conventions are so ubiquitous, they're springing up like zits on a 12-year-old.
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Oh, dude, we're we're gonna get into that.
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Well, now that you bring up Detroit, let me let me let me ask you.
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Uh so you you rep Detroit and Michigan very hard.
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Great time to be from Michigan.
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Come fresh off a nice victory.
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No kidding.
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I was born there many, many, many years ago, but um it it's been really something to watch Detroit get the real the shit kicked out of it um with the economy and the automotive business and uh real estate and everything crashing.
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And and I was there uh last November to see the Lions play.
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And I stayed downtown.
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And while I understand that the renovation and the gentrification of a very depressed poor area means that not everybody, when it's finished, will be able to afford that.
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Yeah.
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However, the ability to walk around at night at Aretha Franklin Park or see the new Gordy Howe Bridge that's going to be opening up, or or enjoy a nice walk outside Comerica Park or or where the Lions play at Ford Field, it's so great to see that.
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Um the you walk up Woodward Avenue downtown, and there are stores you'd see on Rodeo Drive out here.
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Yeah.
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You know, Gucci and and um uh Louis Vuitton.
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I'm not exactly a Rodeo Drive guy, but there has to be a reason to put that stuff up.
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So there's money getting back into Detroit.
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Yeah.
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Um, and so I'm very proud of it.
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Lions up to last year had a pretty good run recently.
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Yeah.
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See what happens this year.
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Red Wings are close to getting a playoff spot.
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Uh Tigers have arguably the at least the second best starting pitching rotation in baseball, with two Cy Young winners back to back.
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I mean, well, school ball, back-to-back Cy Young's.
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Yep.
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And now they got Justin Verlander again.
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Yep.
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So uh it's a really and the Pistons are playing great.
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Um you guys are in business.
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Um, listen, I I am so proud of Motown.
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Um and when I grew up, it was all about Bob Seager and Motown, you know, yeah.
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Stevie and Aretha and Martha and the Vandelas and and uh Smokey and the the Tempt all of that crazy music, not to mention Bob Seeger and Grand Funk Railroad and Alice Cooper.
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Um so yeah, it's pretty neat to be um to be a Detroiter.
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You just mentioned in uh growing up, I want to I want to take it back to your childhood for a little bit.
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First question that I want to ask you before I delve into a little more is something that I like to ask every guest is do you have any favorite Halloween memories growing up in Michigan?
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Either, you know, trick-or-treating anecdotes, favorite costumes that you made, traditions.
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What what are your memories of Halloween as a kid?
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Well, you know, the uh the n the night before Halloween in Michigan was called Devil's Night.
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Is that the is that the Pranks Night, like mischief night?
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Right.
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That's the toilet papering and and you know, soaping people's windows and ringing the door and running away, sometimes ringing the door with a bag full of dog poop on fire.
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I didn't I did not participate in allegedly.
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Right, allegedly.
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I did participate in toilet papering the okay, and I have an excellent story.
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It turned out well.
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It served a couple of purposes.
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I'll explain why.
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Uh, a couple of friends of mine, first of all, I used to live in a subdivision just south of Flint, Michigan.
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I went to high school in Grand Blanc, Michigan, which is a uh bedroom community of Flint in where everybody pretty much works for General Motors.
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Uh so at this particular time in high school, um, the home that we had was uh in um a subdivision, the partner subdivision or the sister subdivision of which was was dissected bisected by a golf course.
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So with a there was the Grand Blank golf course, Riverbend West on one side, riverbend east on the other.
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So I lived in West and a couple of my buddies, we decided we're gonna go out in toilet paper houses.
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Our house got toilet paper.
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It's the it makes a little mess, and then it rains and it all goes away.
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It's toilet paper.
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Good fun.
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Right.
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And um, no shit.
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So anyway, uh we're out doing something that we should were expected to do as kids, but we probably should not.
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Okay.
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Uh so we ran across the golf course to toilet paper somebody house, a random house, nothing personal, still, I did it in River Bend uh east on the other side.
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And as we're toilet papering, the light comes up, and there's a guy that comes to the door and starts screaming at us, and he's holding a rifle.
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Now, that has never happened before or since.
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I was not, although I was a Cub Scout, I wasn't a perfect Cub Scout.
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I've had my share of things I should not have done.
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No one ever threatened me with a weapon, other than maybe their fists, you know.
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So I both of us, or there were three of us, we just took off running.
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Nobody shot up, he didn't fire a shot, but it scared the Christ out of us.
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And as we got back across the golf course, uh we're walking down the street, get to our respective homes to say, okay, that was enough of that.
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This car comes and pulls up in front of us, screech a stop, and the guy, it's the guy.
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And we're going, oh my God.
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He says, Are you the assholes in toilet paper in my house?
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And one of my friends was holding a roll of toilet paper.
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He said, No.
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Right, right there.
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You might want to retract that statement.
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And so the guy come up, came up, he didn't have the weapon, but he started pushing us around, and we just said, Look, we're sorry, you know, we'll clean it up or whatever.
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And as he was getting back in his car, understandably upset, but not so upset that he should have pulled a rifle.
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Sure.
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Um, he said, I said something like, uh, holy shit.
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And he said, What'd you say, you little prick?
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And I said, Holy shit.
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He said, No, you called me a piece of shit, and he just whacked me right across the face and really got a hold of me.
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And I was stunned, and then my lips started bleeding a little bit.
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So he left and we got home.
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And uh this is where I had this one wonderful moment in which my father, whom I had deep respect for, uh uh was very uh always there for all of us.
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But this is why some really become an enraged parent.
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I got home and I had a little bit.
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He goes, are you guys out of toilet paper?
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I said, Yeah.
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He goes, What happened?
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Did you fall?
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I said, No, and I explained to what happened.
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He said, Wait a minute.
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This guy pulled a this guy had a rifle?
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My father was in the service, collected guns.
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He was an NRA instructor, in fact.
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And um he said he had a rifle.
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Did he point it at you?
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No.
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But he had it at the door and he was yelling at us.
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And I, where does he live?
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Can you find it?
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I said, Oh, okay, look, I I don't want to, I don't want to.
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He said, No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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You're gonna clean it up, but he's gonna apologize first.
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This this should never happen.
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So he got me in the car and we drove back and he I said, Is that it?
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And he said, Toilet papers, you are gonna clean that up, you know.
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I said, Yeah, I am.
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So we get to the and he said, Come on, get out of the car, and he just was on a man on a mission, and he banged on the door, and the gentleman's wife, gentlemen, the guy's wife came to the door.
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She said, What's the problem?
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Where's your husband?
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He's in bed.
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Go get him.
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Let's go.
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Yeah, and I'm standing behind him.
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He said, Go get him now.
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I'm not leaving till you get.
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And that guy came, what the hell is your problem?
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He said, Get out here.
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What the hell is your problem?
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This is my kid.
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You slapped my son and you pulled a gun on him and his friends.
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Who the fuck do you think you are?
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I will beat you three ways up, down, and continuously.
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I will de I will discipline my son.
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He, I'm not sure about the other boys, but he will be here tomorrow morning at 6 a.m.
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to clean it up.
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But not unless you apologize to him.
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And I'm not leaving until you do.
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And he just said, All right, I'm sorry.
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And that was it.
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And the guy was, you know, just out of control.
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And I'd never seen my dad that focused when he wasn't upset with me.
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I'm the oldest in the family and all of that stuff.
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And boy, I'll tell you what, it was a wonderful, not only an example of you know, things that seem fairly innocuous to some people are not.
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So before you start doing stuff, peer pressure, whatever it is, think a little bit.
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And that was 50 years ago.
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Yeah.
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So now, with people and the ubiquity of weapons and concealed carry laws or open carry laws around the country, sure.
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Oh my God, I I I wouldn't do that again in a million years.
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And it was it was nothing, it was toilet paper, it was not setting fire, it was not using wax on the windows to write naughty words.
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Can't get that shit off.
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Soap is different.
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I'm an expert.
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But you see my point.
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And of course, I'm I'm standing behind my dad going, yeah, we get in the car and he said, if you ever do that shit again, and you ever you're gonna be cleaning up our house every goddamn day for a year.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Gotta be careful, pal.
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You have got to be careful.
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You're gonna you're 18.
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Oh no, I was 17 years old.
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When you're 18, you're gonna be subject to a lot of prosecution.
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That's vandalism.
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Don't do it again.
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Don't do it again.
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And I never did.
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Wow.
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But multiple lessons were learned that night.
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Yeah, well, way to go, dad.
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Yeah, way to go, dad, man.
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Wow.
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My parents are both gone now.
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I miss my mom every day.
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I miss my dad about once every three weeks, and he would totally get that.
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Because he said, My job was to keep you guys straight and not take advantage of your mother.
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I don't care if you don't love me as much as you love her.
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I do.
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I do.
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I just can get over, I can get away with shit more than my mom.
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That's right.
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Yeah.
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Well, thank you for asking.
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That's I I I you brought up your mom and dad, and and uh that that brings up something I want to talk about.
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Is your mom and dad created this monster, uh, in in in your own words, yes, the bug of wanting to get into show business.
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It started as early as them getting you that little neckitar, which would crank and play hound dog, and you would perform your little hound dog rendition, and you would you would love the attention you got, and that kind of bit you, and you were like, I'm I'm really into this.
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But even though they they created that monster and they were encouraging of your your performance in school and things like that, ultimately you didn't think about the entertainment business as a career until you were in college and you had actually intended to study to become a dentist.
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Um Do you remember what sparked your epiphany?
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Was it gradual or was it something, an incident, something that took place while you were in school that said, you know, one day, you know what?
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I'm gonna have to go tell my parents that this is not working out.
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That is an excellent question, and thank you so much.
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You've done remarkable homework.
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You know more about me than than I do.
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Thank you.
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Um it was gradual for sure, and I had already been bitten by the bug um when my mom and dad had six or seven years.
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The year I was born, the number one hit on the radio was uh You Ain't Nothing But was Hond Dog, I was pressing.
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Yeah.
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My um my um modification of that title was You Ain't Nothing But an Old Ground Hot Dog.
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I don't know why.
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But yeah, the the bug sort of gets you know into you early because it feels good to people who go, oh my god, that was great, or funny or laugh.
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But then you get a little older when you're 15 or 16, and your parents say, Oh, sing for your grandparents.
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They love it when you sing.
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You go, oh man, I don't want to, I don't want to sing.
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Come on, you guys.
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So they just love it when you sing.
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I have a brother and two sisters.
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They were all singers, our singers, all of that.
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Come on, kids.
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And we'd all look at each other going, oh my God.
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Now it's not so fun.
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Um however, I um I got involved in high school.
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I was I was in a unique position.
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I played four years of uh varsity hockey, uh, but then I was also friends with nerds and geeks and the freaks, you know.
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So I was in rock and roll bands, choir, because I loved to sing, and sports.
00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:21.600
Uh and the only two things that lit me up were playing hockey and singing and music, especially rock and roll.
00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:30.799
Though my parents um always uh exposed I and my siblings to the best of music.
00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:31.519
It didn't matter.
00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:50.159
And my parents had no problem with me listening to Led Zeppelin or The Who or The Beatles or anything else, as long as I listened to Shostakovich and Prokofiev and Mahler, even the occasional opera, because I I love to sing and I was exposed and musicals.
00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:56.159
My mom and dad were both very involved in musicals and singing and um all that stuff when they were kids.
00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:58.879
So music was just like air to us.
00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:06.879
Uh, but then in high school, a couple of friends of mine and I for formed different rock and roll bands, and boy, it doesn't take long.
00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:17.440
When you are not necessarily the first people young ladies look to to chat up, yeah, but then you're in a rock and roll band, you don't even have to be good, man.
00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:23.600
If you look pretty good in genes and you move a little bit, you go, wow, pays attention.
00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:29.120
And I am al I've always been predisposed to humor.
00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:34.000
It just lights me up, it calms me down, and laughing at myself is important to me.
00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:37.120
I I take my work seriously, but not myself.
00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:39.519
And so it was always, oh my god, you're so funny.
00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:40.960
I'm so glad you're my friend.
00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:42.080
Oh Jesus, man.
00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:43.360
Isn't you're really pretty?
00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:44.080
Can we do it?
00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:46.320
No, I just I'm dating this guy.
00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:47.360
Tell him your joke.
00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:48.159
Oh, Jesus.
00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:48.480
Okay.
00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:50.159
So be the rock and roll band.
00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:53.279
Now the hook is set, and people at least will come and talk to you.
00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:54.720
So it was pretty fun.
00:16:54.960 --> 00:17:06.240
Uh then I was involved, uh I was uh enrolled at the University of Michigan uh in 2000, no, 2000, 1975.
00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:07.279
I would have been 19.
00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:12.400
So that was the first year, or no, fall of 78, 18, went to Michigan.
00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:20.319
Spent a year enrolled, but kept in touch with my musician friends and met more musician friends.
00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:24.000
And so frankly, I rarely, rarely went to class.
00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:29.519
The only ones I did were music theory and biology because I enjoyed it.
00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:37.279
But uh in the meantime, I had been contacted by a high school friend who decided to go to Los Angeles and join a theater company.
00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:37.759
Right.
00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:39.759
And he kept in touch with me.
00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:43.680
And he said, Hey man, you know, we've talked about how you enjoy doing theater.
00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:46.640
Uh you should come out here and audition for this.
00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:48.960
Was this like the Christian uh faith-based group?
00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:51.200
This was called the Covenant Players.
00:17:51.279 --> 00:18:04.720
It was a faith-based uh Christian theatrical group, and all the uh all the plays that we did were generally moral plays or plays that would make people think, and then there'd be QA.
00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:09.759
And I certainly was nothing more than an actor, uh singer.
00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:17.200
But it had really intrigued me, not so much for the the religious aspect of it.
00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:22.240
I yeah, my family went to church if somebody died, got married, or was baptized.
00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:23.519
That was pretty much it.
00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:27.759
But it was always about being being decent to other people and respecting them.
00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:34.960
Um so I thought, wow, I get to go to LA, maybe get on this gig and travel.
00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:36.400
What wonderful experience.
00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:40.319
So I went to my parents and I said, Look, I'm wasting your money and my time.
00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:51.519
Um I am the oldest, I understand that I'm kind of the canary in the coal mine, but I I just really don't want to go back to school.
00:18:51.680 --> 00:19:01.839
I I want to give LA a shot before I have uh any encumbrances financial otherwise, I'd get married or whatever.
00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:05.440
Of course, the re the response was, well, wait till you get your degree and then you can go.
00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:06.400
And I thought not.
00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:10.240
I just don't, by the way, every one of my siblings finished college.
00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:10.559
Yeah.
00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:14.160
I was the only one who thought I can't live not doing this.
00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:18.559
And at the moment, at that moment, it was not about doing community theater.
00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:21.920
And see, I thought this is as far as I can go here.
00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:29.359
So they said, Look, um thinking about this, going to LA to join this company, theater company.
00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:32.880
Um, I'd love we'd love for you to think about it.
00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:37.920
But if you choose to go, the money that's following you to the University of Michigan does not follow you to wherever you go in LA.
00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:39.039
You know, yeah.
00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:40.720
Sure, I learned how to get a job.
00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:42.240
I've been working since I've been 14.
00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:43.839
Everybody gets a job, no problem.
00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:44.640
Yeah.
00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:50.559
And so it was left to discuss after my parents got home from a trip.
00:19:50.640 --> 00:20:00.880
There, my dad sailed a lot and they had a lot of friends with sailboats, one of whom had a large, beautiful 40-footer, and they were out sailing on Lake Huron, and there was no ship to shore radio.
00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:02.880
So my friend Chuck called again.
00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:04.799
He said, Dude, you gotta get out if you're coming.
00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:06.640
If you're not, fine, but you gotta let me know.
00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:08.720
I want to put your name in the in the hopper.
00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:12.640
And so I I didn't know what to do.
00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:20.480
I was afraid, frankly, of hurting my parents by not by leaving without telling them truthfully that I'm going.
00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:20.960
Yeah.
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:35.920
But I didn't want to miss this opportunity, so I called my grandfather, uh, who came to this country uh during the First World War when um U-boats were sinking passenger ships.
00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:37.839
The most famous of one was the Lusitania.
00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:39.200
He was Danish, correct?
00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:40.079
He was Danish.
00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:43.839
He came from Denmark, yeah, and he was an engineer, incredibly bright.
00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:47.119
My dad's dad, and I was very close to him.
00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:58.319
In fact, uh, for my 12th birthday, my grandmother and grandfather on my dad's side got me a subscription to Scientific American, and I still have it because I'm just stunned by all of that.
00:20:58.640 --> 00:20:59.039
Love it.
00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:03.119
Uh and I told my grandfather, I said, This is what I'm thinking about doing.
00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:15.440
And he heard me, he said, Well, you know, when I was about your age, I was about 19 or 20, and I told my parents and my relatives that I'm going to America, like millions of other Europeans.
00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:25.440
Um, and at that time, he related a really pithy story about how the people who loved him said, Robert, his name is Robert too.
00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:27.279
Robert, you can't go now.
00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:31.680
There are torpedoes in the water, and you you could be killed.
00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:38.799
And he said, Rob, what I've learned is that there are people who will always tell you there are torpedoes in the water.
00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:41.119
Of course there's a risk.
00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:47.279
But I was going across the ocean to a country that I couldn't wait to get to.
00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:50.000
I didn't know the language, I didn't really know the customs.
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:53.759
I was a bright guy, I was already a working engineer.
00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:56.799
But you are going to stay in the same country.
00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:59.599
You get to go to another end of this incredible.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:05.759
Country, and I completely understand your desire.
00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:07.440
I'll talk to your dad.
00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:08.079
Wow.
00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:11.759
If you decide to go, you have to go.
00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:14.000
Only you can make that decision.
00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:19.359
If you go and it doesn't turn out the way you want it, nobody's gonna tell you not to come home.
00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:21.599
You can go back to school, do whatever.
00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:32.640
But if you are so compelled that you are willing to leave without telling your parents, even though you've discussed it, then I say that's something that you can't not do.
00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:34.799
So go.
00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:37.039
And by the way, you're going to California.
00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:40.960
The ocean is not named the Pacific by accident.
00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:41.920
Let it pass.
00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:45.680
Now here's a guy who grew up on the Baltic and the North Sea, North Atlantic.
00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:46.079
Yeah.
00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:49.200
He said, let the ocean pacify you.
00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:51.279
You're going for a very good reason.
00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:52.880
You're a creative young man.
00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:55.440
You are a smart boy.
00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:57.759
And you're a nice kid.
00:22:57.920 --> 00:22:58.960
You're a nice young man.
00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:00.480
You've been well reared.
00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:01.680
We love you.
00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:05.039
But if you feel you gotta do this, then you do it.
00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:06.480
And I'll handle your day.
00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:08.079
And boy, oh boy.
00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:18.799
That was a huge gift that I had someone in my corner whom my family revered as such a remarkable thing.
00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:20.079
That's invaluable.
00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:21.519
Invaluable.
00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:26.319
And um so to this day, when things get a little what?
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:27.839
Oh man, I don't know.
00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:31.759
And think, well, you know, I don't see no torpedoes in the water yet, but I'm gonna give it a shot.
00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:33.119
Words to live by.
00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:35.279
It really they really were, thank you.
00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:40.079
Um so I went and joined this theater company.
00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:40.640
I got in.
00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:41.119
Yep.
00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:43.920
And the experience, I did it for about a little over a year.
00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:48.640
The experience was phenomenal, absolutely incredible.
00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:56.640
It taught me how to get along with other people on a little bus, you know, five different people from different backgrounds, or four or five.
00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:59.759
We traveled on the bus, had this itinerant thing.
00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:05.599
We'd go primarily at prisons and churches, and what an incredible training ground.
00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:08.640
I learned how to screw up on stage and that it didn't kill me.
00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:09.200
Yep.
00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:11.440
Um, I learned how to compete.
00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:12.079
Yep.
00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:30.079
Um, and then when I got done with that year, I went back to Michigan and uh I had been asked to stay on with the Covenant players, but uh it really wasn't my my vibe in terms of moving forward.
00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:40.240
I really wanted to try professional show biz in Hollywood, but I'd had a lot of training on how to just get up there and do it.
00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:44.559
Uh so when I got back home, I thought, well, now I'm here.
00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:47.519
I don't want to go back unless I'm going to do my thing, but I got to make some money.
00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:50.240
So my parents are like, sure, of course, come on home, you gotta get a job.
00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:51.200
Of course I did.
00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:59.440
I got a job working at uh as a short order cook at Perkins Pancake House in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:01.440
And um, can you cook?
00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:03.359
Oh yeah, can you cook eggs?
00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:04.640
Oh yeah, of course.
00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:09.920
Fortunately, you don't have to have to be an MIT grad to do that.
00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:30.799
Uh but as fate would have it, um it turns out when you take a leap of faith, often these uh little epiphanies, as you great word, come up along the journey and say, don't quit.
00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:31.920
You're you're here.
00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:43.920
And so I'm back in Michigan, and a friend of a friend, one of the guys I was in a band with, a couple bands in high school, pretty successful, um, said, Hey man, I got these friends who are crazy fucking players, crazy players.
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:45.599
They're all 20, 21.
00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:53.519
And this was in a small town called Fenton, Michigan, outside of north and north of Detroit, east of southeast of Flint.
00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:55.920
And they're looking for a singer.
00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:57.359
So I went to hear them.
00:25:57.519 --> 00:25:58.319
They were amazing.
00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:01.119
The the players just had a very eclectic blend.
00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:08.799
They were playing Steely Dan and The Who and Led Zeppelin and George Benson and Emerson Lake and Palmer, really good players.
00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:14.160
Uh so we chatted and okay, learn a couple songs, come over this Saturday.
00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:18.400
We have the place is full, and we'd like you to do it maybe three songs this Saturday.
00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:19.519
Great.
00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:21.119
The more, the merrier.
00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:24.480
So it went there, auditioned, it worked out.
00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:42.640
I spent almost two years with them, learned so much about performing, about being able to handle a heckler, about dealing with shit when the commit uh when the equipment breaks, all the stuff that you deal with that no one can teach you.
00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:43.039
Yeah.
00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:50.400
It's practical experience to see, oh, okay, I'm essentially a human jukebox.
00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:50.799
Yeah.
00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:52.720
How do we entertain these people?
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:56.400
Moreover, how do I entertain them being the lead guy?
00:26:56.559 --> 00:26:59.039
I'm a lead singer, didn't play any instruments.
00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:02.240
Um, how do I entertain them if something breaks?
00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:04.720
Or we got to take a break to fix something.
00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:07.920
I don't want to just, I'm gonna work on my chops.
00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:09.440
So I did.
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:17.119
And I learned a lot, so much, just about performing for its own sake.
00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:19.519
Yeah, made a couple hundred bucks a week.
00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:24.240
Uh after two years, I said, You guys, I really want to get back to LA.
00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:28.720
And by that time, some of the members of the band had gotten married, and they didn't.
00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:30.480
I kind of like, well, this gig is great.
00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:32.960
And I said, Yeah, but I'm 22.
00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:33.920
Yeah.
00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:35.599
I I'm ready to go.
00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:36.319
I've already been there.
00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:38.559
I gotta go see what's up before this.
00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:40.640
Now, I'd love to go with you guys.
00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:43.759
We're a really good band, but our originals were pretty shitty.
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:44.240
Yep.
00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:46.880
Um, and a couple of guys really weren't interested.
00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:54.400
So I said, Okay, well, I love you, but you you better start looking for another singer because I'm not gonna leave you in a lurch, but I I gotta go.
00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:56.799
So um I did.
00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:02.000
I left the band in June of 1978.
00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:26.000
I joined them in June of 76, and so by the time I went to LA, I'd had years of experience auditioning, screwing up, learning stuff, learning on the fly, finding jokes that I keep at the back of my, you know, mental Rolodex that I know were surefire jokes that were two things.
00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:28.480
Number one, the period when you were growing up, right?
00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:40.400
Before you thought of it as a serious career, I know you know you had heroes in the music business, like you mentioned, but also, you know, your heroes were Peter Sellers and Jonathan Winters, and you're looking at these people and sort of being enthralled.
00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:51.119
So at any point, you know, before you went to college and decided to do this seriously, growing up, did you ever think to yourself, like, oh, I I want to be like Peter Sellers, but it seems unrealistic?
00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:57.519
Or or why why do you think it took so long for you to say, like, you know, okay, fine, I'm gonna do this for real?
00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:01.440
Do you or you know, do you do you think it just seemed like I'm in I'm in Michigan?
00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:02.480
I don't know how that's gonna happen.
00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:03.519
Like, what was it?
00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:07.119
Certainly, yeah, as a youngster it did, because I thought, man, yeah.
00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:12.720
The first time I saw uh, well, my favorite movie still of all times is Doctor Strange Love.
00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:13.759
I I Peter Sellers.
00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:14.799
Who inspired Dr.
00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:15.680
Scratchensniff?
00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:16.880
Yes.
00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:22.720
Three separate, totally distinct characters in one film directed by Stanley Kubrick with George C.
00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:25.920
Scott and just remarkable talent.
00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:40.559
And when I was probably in junior high, I my um my grandparents, or no, even younger, my grandparents from Denmark introduced me to a wonderful Danish comedian named Victor Borga.
00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:51.519
Now, Victor Borga uh was a concert pianist, but his whole act was based on playing music poorly.
00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:59.200
And for instance, what he would do is we're all familiar with the William Tell Overture, yeah, yeah, by Rossini.
00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:08.480
Okay, so he sits down at a piano, long tails, you know, makes um makes jokes to the audience, sits down, finally gets ready to play.
00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:25.200
He's got the music in front of him, he's going, he's going, uh, he's going, he says, wait a minute, that looks at the audience, turns the music right side up, and then goes, I saw that and I lost my mind.
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:30.720
I thought, that is so simple but incredibly original.
00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:42.720
And anybody that you don't have to speak the language, anybody that knows that internationally recognized tune would get the joke.
00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:43.200
For sure.
00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:45.519
And I thought, man, that is really something.
00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:51.759
Then I my mom and dad, like everybody else, love to watch the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:58.400
And the first time I saw Jonathan Winters was probably somewhere in the early 70s.
00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:05.599
And again, I lost my mind because John came out and utterly improvised everything.
00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:12.400
Um, Johnny Carson was a master at teeing it up for anybody who was there to be funny.
00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:15.039
But Jonathan Winters had already had his own TV show.
00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:18.240
He's a really well-known actor, comedian.
00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:23.039
Yeah, and it was effortless watching this guy riff over and over.
00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:34.720
And on his CBS comedy show, at the end of each show, there was a five-minute segment in which someone from offstage would throw him a random hat or a pith helmet or something or a chef's hat.
00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:36.559
He'd grab it, put it on, and go.
00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:36.799
Yeah.
00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:38.400
And they throw it, go.
00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:44.559
And oh my goodness gracious, that was just something that lit me up.
00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:47.839
So all of those seeds were planted.
00:31:47.920 --> 00:31:50.880
And while I was starting to think about, gosh, I don't know.
00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:55.119
I'm Jay, he's Jonathan Winters is from Dayton, Ohio.
00:31:55.519 --> 00:31:56.799
How did he get out there?
00:31:56.880 --> 00:31:58.319
Yeah, he was my parents' age.
00:31:58.400 --> 00:31:59.200
How did he get out there?
00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:01.119
Well, figured it out.
00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:07.119
Did local stand up in Cleveland and Ohio and made his way like a lot of us.
00:32:07.200 --> 00:32:07.359
Yeah.
00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:09.039
Robin Williams, same thing.
00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:09.440
Yeah.
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:12.400
And Jonathan was Robin's hero.
00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:20.000
Uh so the hook was certainly set, but I was still a dutiful son who was expected to go to college.
00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:20.799
There it is.
00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:23.599
I expected to go to college.
00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:28.960
My parents were kind enough and fortunate enough to say, yeah, we'll we'll make it happen, but you got to get the grades.
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:31.359
And so I expected to do that.
00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:47.119
And I started thinking maybe that after college, and the more and more and more I got involved in performing at school, learning that if you're a good singer and you happen to be in genes that are a little tight, you can maybe sing rock and roll songs, and somebody likes that too.
00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:47.680
Yep.
00:32:48.079 --> 00:32:58.160
And my choir teacher, God bless her, Carolyn Moby, never ever uh dissuaded or tried to dissuade me from singing popular music.
00:32:58.559 --> 00:32:59.759
Shout out to Carolyn.
00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:00.799
Yeah.
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:04.400
She just said, Rob, you're a very good singer.
00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:11.680
Um, I know, because I had confided in her, I know that you're thinking about maybe pursuing the performing arts.
00:33:11.839 --> 00:33:16.960
Whether you go to New York or LA, please, please, please learn to read music.
00:33:17.039 --> 00:33:20.799
And I'm oh, Miss Mobby, I mean, I I've got a good ear, I can pick up the mouth.
00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:21.839
I know.
00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:37.680
But if it will never hurt you, and if you learn to read music and you do go to LA, or you do go to New York and start auditioning for musicals, and they can hand you a piece of music and you can read it and audition in five minutes, that's gonna be a big help.
00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:45.519
And do you know that I'm gonna skip ahead a little bit when I very first started working in LA after having moved there?
00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:47.839
I'd been there probably three or four months.
00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:52.240
I started meeting other musicians and other performers, hadn't had an agent yet.
00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:58.720
Uh but somebody gave my name to someone else.
00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:03.680
This person called me and said, Hey, I understand you're a tenor and you can read music.
00:34:03.759 --> 00:34:06.559
I'm doing a couple of commercial jingles.
00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:10.960
Um, it's not a union thing, they're local like breweries or something.
00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:11.920
I don't remember what it was.
00:34:12.400 --> 00:34:13.760
Come on over and see what you got.
00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:17.199
So I went over, read the music, did the jingles.
00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:19.760
The track was already recorded, the music track.
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:20.719
I did it.
00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:22.079
They gave me$500.
00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:23.360
It was a buyout.
00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:23.679
Yeah.
00:34:23.840 --> 00:34:26.800
And then they said, Great, are you available next week?
00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:28.400
I said, Yeah, cool.
00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:33.039
Well, um, we got something else coming up, but you can read, so um, we'll call you.
00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:36.800
And it happened again to five, only because of Carolyn Mobby.
00:34:37.360 --> 00:34:37.840
That was right.
00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:58.320
And I got a chance to tell her before she passed that Miss Mobby, you may not remember me, but I I can't tell you what your um mentorship and your does and your insisting that I learn to read music.
00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:00.480
I can't tell you what that did for me.
00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:09.599
And I pay for everything from toilet paper to braces to college, doing something I would do for free, thanks to people like you.
00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:10.159
Wow.
00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:15.039
And so back to how did I, you know, why did I wait?
00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:21.199
I waited only because I wanted to do what I thought was best because I trusted my parents.
00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:23.760
And everybody else I knew was going to college.
00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:25.119
That makes a lot of sense.
00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:25.440
Yeah.
00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:26.400
That's what you do.
00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:26.800
Yeah.
00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:31.280
So, yeah, but once I got there, you and I have we have we have so much in common.
00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:31.920
What wasn't there?
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:33.679
I'm gonna have to tell you my story.
00:35:33.840 --> 00:35:34.079
Yeah.
00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:44.960
One of the most impactful parts of your book to me was the the imagery of your mom in her bathroom on the driveway and your dad saying the words, what the hell am I gonna tell my friends?
00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:46.000
Yeah, that was tough.
00:35:46.239 --> 00:35:57.519
And so my yeah, my my my follow up question to that is was there a moment, or what was the moment, where your parents eventually sort of officially acknowledged that the choice you had made was the correct one?
00:35:57.599 --> 00:35:58.719
And like, hey, you know what?
00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:00.639
I'm I'm happy to tell my friends now.
00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:02.000
Without question.
00:36:02.159 --> 00:36:11.840
And um, and I understand now, as a parent of a grown-ass man as he calls himself, fortunately, the rest of him has grown at the same rate as his ass.
00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:16.239
But he doesn't keep his head up at as much as I keep mine up, mine.
00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:30.880
And I understand now, he he he, of course, as someone who was born in the late 20s uh and went through the he wasn't old enough to participate in the Second World War, but you know, you get a job and you hang on to it.
00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:35.679
He was at the last vestiges of the um stock market crash of the 20s.
00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:36.239
Yeah.
00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:38.639
Um or the 30s, yeah.
00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:40.559
At the end of the 20s, right.
00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:45.519
And so you get a job and you hang on to it, and you take care of your friends and your family, rather.
00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:46.800
So my dad did that.
00:36:46.880 --> 00:36:55.679
He'd been working for the same steel company in in Detroit, even though we moved up north a bit, uh, for by the time he retired, 45 years.
00:36:56.079 --> 00:36:58.559
So I'm his pride and joy.
00:36:58.719 --> 00:37:05.039
He, of course, he loved it, you know, but I'm the first child, a son, play sports, do music.
00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:14.880
Um, I'm a you know, uh I don't disobey my parents, I don't do anything more except maybe toilet paper in a house every now and then.
00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:16.000
I'm a good kid.
00:37:16.159 --> 00:37:26.159
And he's all their thinking is wow, my parents, your mother's parents were from Eastern Europe, you are the embodiment of the American dream.
00:37:26.400 --> 00:37:29.840
My parents were first generation Americans, I'm a second generation.
00:37:30.159 --> 00:37:43.280
So of course, and both my grandfathers were very well-learned men, an engineer, and um I forgot what my grandfather did on my mother's side, but he spoke four languages.
00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:48.880
He spoke Macedonian, he was from Macedonia, uh, Russian, Greek, and English.
00:37:49.119 --> 00:37:49.519
Wow, yeah.
00:37:49.920 --> 00:37:50.960
Fluently.
00:37:51.199 --> 00:37:55.519
And they're both brilliant men and both wonderful grandmothers.
00:37:55.599 --> 00:37:58.239
And so, wait a minute, that's what my kid's gonna do.
00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:02.639
Only he's got those great genes, and we've taken care of him, and he's gonna kill it.
00:38:02.719 --> 00:38:19.440
Maybe he'll be a doctor, maybe he'll be an attorney, maybe he'll even run for all of that stuff, all the things that every parent thinks about, while still shoveling the love of music and performing into my grateful mug, you know.
00:38:19.760 --> 00:38:26.239
Yeah, uh, so I understand it was it was a just kind of a natural reaction.
00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:29.519
Jesus Christ, what I want to tell my friends.
00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:31.920
I know that he regretted saying that.
00:38:32.079 --> 00:38:35.119
He didn't apologize for it right away.
00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:40.719
Uh and my reaction, of course, was that's a fine how do you do?
00:38:41.440 --> 00:38:54.960
Uh but somebody made a really great point to me the other day when I mentioned how I still have trouble telling the truth about something if I'm gonna upset someone.
00:38:55.119 --> 00:38:55.360
Yeah.
00:38:56.079 --> 00:39:00.320
Now I'm not talking about, hey, your house is on fire, I don't want to upset you.
00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:13.760
But somebody who's a performer, or I go to see a show, and I've worked with a lot of people who are so profoundly gifted, far more gifted than I, but I am the boat which the high tide has raised.
00:39:14.079 --> 00:39:23.840
So I know how good these people are, and I'll go see something and I'll think I'm not gonna tear it apart, but I that's not Rob.
00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:24.800
What do you think?
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:28.800
Man, oh man, that was really interesting.
00:39:28.960 --> 00:39:31.360
That was really you're you gotta be commend.
00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:34.800
I because I don't want to be a turd in the punch bowl.
00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:43.440
I understand, you know, you when you put the kibosh on someone's creative endeavor, uh, and it's your father, it's kind of hurtful.
00:39:43.760 --> 00:39:44.480
Totally.
00:39:44.880 --> 00:39:50.000
But I didn't want to so now this gentleman said, Well, let me see if I get this straight.
00:39:50.079 --> 00:39:50.800
We're very good friends.
00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:56.559
He said, Rob, do you recall when you, you know, he's known me since we came out here, you came out here.
00:39:56.800 --> 00:39:58.000
I know your story.
00:39:58.320 --> 00:40:01.119
You defied your father.
00:40:01.840 --> 00:40:07.039
He wasn't there to stop you, but you called your old your grandpa and you left.
00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:11.679
And you were willing to defy the man you were afraid of, really.
00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:17.920
Never laid a hand on me, very protective, but you know, hey, where's my screwdriver?
00:40:18.079 --> 00:40:18.559
Did you have it?
00:40:18.880 --> 00:40:19.119
I did.
00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:19.840
Where is it?
00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:20.880
All that stuff.
00:40:21.039 --> 00:40:21.360
Yeah.
00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:28.639
Um, and so I thought, wow, I I did have more courage than I gave myself credit for.
00:40:28.719 --> 00:40:28.880
Yeah.
00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:34.159
Because people, young actors, will say, Oh my God, weren't you terrified when you went to LA?
00:40:34.400 --> 00:40:44.000
Well, no, I was a little apprehensive because I was driving my car, what at 2,500 miles, whatever, 2300 miles across the country.
00:40:44.239 --> 00:40:53.920
But I had whether it was youthful exuberance or cockeyed optimism or you know, um ignorance is bliss.
00:40:54.079 --> 00:40:54.320
Yeah.
00:40:54.480 --> 00:41:01.840
All I knew that that's I'd done as far as I could go in Michigan, time to jump into the big kid's pool and see what happens.
00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:10.559
Uh, but then at this, at my age, I re now I've been reminded, oh yeah, you had more courage than you think.
00:41:10.880 --> 00:41:17.119
So now my ability to say, I have to tell you, I admire your creativity.
00:41:17.360 --> 00:41:24.239
If you like, I can give you some notes because I think, in my view, there are areas that could be improved.
00:41:24.480 --> 00:41:28.400
And it turns out that people want that from me now.
00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:40.159
I I've reached a point in my career unbeknownst to me, which is actually uh your kindness, your willingness to chat with an old Hollywood dog.
00:41:40.480 --> 00:41:45.119
Uh I love giving creative advice.
00:41:45.360 --> 00:41:52.960
Not because it's the it's the advice that's going to make everything perfect, but because I have valuable creative information.
00:41:53.360 --> 00:41:53.760
Absolutely.
00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:54.960
You have become Yoda.
00:41:55.440 --> 00:41:56.400
Uh yeah.
00:41:56.559 --> 00:42:00.400
Only I don't make nearly as much money, although I'm just agreeing today.
00:42:00.559 --> 00:42:15.039
Uh but I I've worked with people, I have an anecdote for everyone from Steven Spielberg, yeah to Mark Hamill, to Tress McNeil, to Randy Rogell, at whose home we'd met a year or ago or so.
00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:16.000
Yes, yes.
00:42:16.239 --> 00:42:19.679
And every one of them started out like you and me.
00:42:19.840 --> 00:42:20.559
Every one of them.
00:42:20.719 --> 00:42:20.960
Yeah.
00:42:21.119 --> 00:42:22.559
They're all my contemporaries.
00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:23.199
Now, well, Mr.
00:42:23.280 --> 00:42:33.679
Spielberg is king of Hollywood, but people like Randy Rogell, like like Tress McNeil, like Frank Welker, like Mark Hamill, like the late great Kevin Conroy, Batman.
00:42:34.159 --> 00:42:46.079
All these people have grown up with me, and now they're Emmy winners, Oscar winners, Tony winners, Grammy winners, and I can call them up on the phone.
00:42:46.320 --> 00:42:49.519
And so I'm putting together my own one-man show.
00:42:49.679 --> 00:42:49.920
Yes.
00:42:50.239 --> 00:42:55.440
And all these people have come out, they all give me notes, they all say, really, this part was great.
00:42:55.599 --> 00:42:57.280
This part was a little weak.
00:42:57.599 --> 00:42:58.239
Great.
00:42:58.639 --> 00:42:59.840
I crave that.
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:09.440
And so it turned out that because I was so concerned about being nice versus being helpful, and they're they can both be true.
00:43:09.599 --> 00:43:12.800
You can be nice, helpful, and tell the truth.
00:43:13.920 --> 00:43:18.159
And it turns out that I have information that young performers want.
00:43:18.639 --> 00:43:34.079
So now when I'm doing a coaching call, where I do individual coaching online, and uh people pay for my knowledge, because I I can't do it for nothing because I do it a lot.
00:43:34.239 --> 00:43:36.480
Uh but I always go long.
00:43:36.880 --> 00:43:38.719
Um, it's not about, oh my God, Mr.
00:43:38.800 --> 00:43:39.760
Paulson, we're almost at the end.
00:43:39.840 --> 00:43:41.280
No, no, no, don't worry, we'll keep going.
00:43:41.440 --> 00:43:48.480
But the point is that when I'm asked, what would you have liked to have had access to before you moved to LA?
00:43:48.719 --> 00:43:51.280
And I can say categorically, me.
00:43:51.760 --> 00:43:52.719
People like me.
00:43:52.800 --> 00:43:59.679
Wow and lots of other people like me who are old enough to be a big brother, an uncle, a parent.
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:01.360
Even a grandparent.
00:44:01.679 --> 00:44:09.519
Because if somebody talks to me like we're chatting, I can be asked about pretty much anything in Hollywood.
00:44:09.760 --> 00:44:12.719
Auditioning, getting an agent, being replaced.
00:44:13.119 --> 00:44:18.159
One of the things you just you just mentioned there of getting an agent, I that was a part of your book that I loved.
00:44:18.239 --> 00:44:29.119
Um, your story about getting an agent, uh, essentially pestering him until you you got called into the office, and even though he was sort of stone faced, you you got sent down the hall and you got a contract.
00:44:29.440 --> 00:44:34.239
Do you think that works now in 2026 for someone that's coming here from out of town?
00:44:34.320 --> 00:44:36.320
Do you think that same approach works or or not?
00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:37.519
And if not, why?
00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:41.360
Well, actually, God, you know, you should think about doing this a lot.
00:44:41.519 --> 00:44:42.480
You're really smart.
00:44:42.800 --> 00:44:43.039
Thank you.
00:44:43.360 --> 00:44:45.679
And by the way, does your audience know what you look like?
00:44:45.840 --> 00:44:48.079
This is not uh a video podcast, right?
00:44:48.320 --> 00:44:48.639
It is.
00:44:48.800 --> 00:44:49.119
It is.
00:44:49.199 --> 00:44:50.480
Okay, well then they know what you look like.
00:44:50.559 --> 00:44:53.440
So everybody sees how, pardon me, effing handsome you are.
00:44:53.760 --> 00:44:54.400
Oh, thank you, Rob.
00:44:55.280 --> 00:44:58.880
You're young, you're handsome, you got perfect teeth, you're talented.
00:44:59.119 --> 00:45:01.440
Is that your is that your wife whom I saw you with the other day?
00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:02.079
Yes, it is.
00:45:02.159 --> 00:45:02.320
Yes.
00:45:02.480 --> 00:45:06.639
I'm gonna I I wanna I wanna there's an anecdote I'm gonna tell at the end of this.
00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:07.920
That's my favorite anecdote.
00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:08.719
We carry on.
00:45:08.960 --> 00:45:09.519
Okay, great.
00:45:09.599 --> 00:45:15.840
So you're already light years, and guys like me who come to LA, okay.
00:45:16.079 --> 00:45:21.920
Uh and the short answer is yes, uh, what I did was not take no for an answer.
00:45:22.079 --> 00:45:24.719
But I was I was not obnoxious.
00:45:24.960 --> 00:45:29.760
And that would come from Dick Barth, who's the gentleman who signed me who we're talking about.
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:45.280
Um in fact, he went so far as to say, I'm glad that you pursued this, because he did a year before I got signed, say, uh, make sure you send me a note, remind me, and I did.
00:45:45.440 --> 00:45:49.119
They just weren't um um snail mail, right?
00:45:49.199 --> 00:45:52.960
So they weren't, I wasn't, I go to the mailbox every no, okay.
00:45:53.440 --> 00:46:00.159
But uh I wasn't gonna give up because he asked me to respond.
00:46:00.639 --> 00:46:08.960
Now, if I had gone in or if I had gotten a hold of him and he said, you know what, with all due respect, Rob, right now I think we're pretty covered.
00:46:09.119 --> 00:46:12.480
Uh maybe you can check back in a year.
00:46:12.960 --> 00:46:14.320
I would have respected that.
00:46:14.480 --> 00:46:16.880
I would not have gone back, but he didn't say that.
00:46:17.199 --> 00:46:19.920
So I and I didn't send him a note every week.
00:46:20.159 --> 00:46:22.239
I would wait a month or so.
00:46:22.480 --> 00:46:24.960
I didn't get an agent, I didn't stop looking for an agent.
00:46:25.119 --> 00:46:28.639
If somebody had signed me before Sutton Barth and Vinari, I'd have taken it.
00:46:28.719 --> 00:46:28.800
Yeah.
00:46:28.960 --> 00:46:29.840
In a heartbeat.
00:46:30.239 --> 00:46:33.039
Uh but I kept at it.
00:46:33.280 --> 00:46:38.400
And finally, it was about 10 months to a year later, he wrote back.
00:46:38.719 --> 00:46:39.840
I was doing it like this.
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:41.519
He wrote back and I opened it up.
00:46:41.760 --> 00:46:44.480
Dear Rob, thank you for being so patient.
00:46:44.719 --> 00:46:48.320
How does next Tuesday at 11 15 a.m.
00:46:48.480 --> 00:46:51.039
at our office here in West Hollywood look?
00:46:51.440 --> 00:46:52.320
What am I gonna say?
00:46:52.400 --> 00:46:54.079
No, great, I'm in.
00:46:54.400 --> 00:46:56.960
So he apologized.
00:46:57.119 --> 00:46:58.159
He didn't need to.
00:46:58.400 --> 00:46:59.119
Thank you, Rob.
00:46:59.199 --> 00:47:01.280
It's a pleasure to meet you uh in person.
00:47:01.519 --> 00:47:04.239
Forgive me, you know, we're starting our own agency.
00:47:04.320 --> 00:47:05.280
I did not know that.
00:47:05.440 --> 00:47:16.960
Yeah, I did not know that Sutton Barth and Minari was literally starting their own agency after having worked at Cunningham, which is a very big agency in LA and New York.
00:47:17.199 --> 00:47:21.360
They decided we're leaving and we're gonna start our own agency.
00:47:21.599 --> 00:47:26.639
Well, that had just started to happen when I wrote Mr.
00:47:26.719 --> 00:47:28.880
Barth the first letter.
00:47:29.360 --> 00:47:42.559
By the time he brought me in, they were now necessarily getting actors on board and trying to find people who they thought might work as they bailed their agency, people they want to take a shot with.
00:47:42.800 --> 00:47:45.440
Um so my timing was excellent.
00:47:45.679 --> 00:47:59.920
But what I did coming to LA, and this is really important for you and other your fans out there, your other actors, what often happens, kids, and I mean that with all due respect because I'm 70, I love kids because I'm still one up here.
00:48:00.159 --> 00:48:25.119
What that means is that often when we come to LA or choose to even stay in Alabama because you can't afford to go to LA or New York, but push outside your comfort zone to find people of a like mind or a like ethos on how they live their lives and how creative they want to be with other people that maybe can't afford to go lay.
00:48:25.199 --> 00:48:36.079
But now with this technology, you can look for you know uh improv groups, voice acting chat groups around the Montgomery, Alabama area.
00:48:36.239 --> 00:48:37.440
You will find them.
00:48:37.760 --> 00:48:52.639
You and I can work with a writer in South Africa, a musician in Kyoto, and an animator in Iceland in real time.
00:48:53.519 --> 00:49:04.079
So the truth is, if I had not just chosen to go to LA, I would have been working on this type of technology to learn more chops.
00:49:05.119 --> 00:49:06.639
But there was no choice back then.
00:49:06.719 --> 00:49:19.920
But what happens when you do that, folks, when you push beyond your zone to say, I think I could do a podcast, or I'm gonna start improv, because I heard Rob talk about how important it is in the context of being a performer, but I'm not in LA.
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:20.800
Well, so what?
00:49:20.960 --> 00:49:29.679
There are comedy clubs, improv groups everywhere because of shows like Saturday Live or uh um SCTV.
00:49:30.079 --> 00:49:31.440
No excuses anymore.
00:49:31.760 --> 00:49:33.039
No, exactly.
00:49:33.280 --> 00:49:39.199
So push out there because what happens when you do that is exactly what happens to me, happened to me.
00:49:39.360 --> 00:49:43.039
I put myself in a position to get lucky.
00:49:43.599 --> 00:49:45.599
Everyone needs to have a little luck.
00:49:45.679 --> 00:49:47.039
That's absolutely true.
00:49:47.280 --> 00:49:47.679
True.
00:49:47.920 --> 00:49:54.639
But the luck hopefully will result in you being ready when the luck happens.
00:49:54.800 --> 00:50:05.360
Yeah, you will get a couple of shots, but if you're not ready, then you might, you know, you might not get another one, or you might not get one for a while.
00:50:05.679 --> 00:50:12.480
So that is why putting yourself in a position to be surrounded by people who scare the shit out of you with their talent.
00:50:12.639 --> 00:50:14.320
Yeah, that's great.
00:50:14.559 --> 00:50:20.400
I didn't realize at the time, but it took me about a year to think, wow, you know, I'm kind of freaked out by these people.
00:50:20.559 --> 00:50:29.840
Well, the people I was studying with, whom I went to see, who were older than I, by four or five, sometimes eight years, were Phil Hartman, Paul Rubens, Pee-Wee Herman.
00:50:30.079 --> 00:50:31.599
Because you were you were at Gradlings, right?
00:50:31.840 --> 00:50:32.960
Well, I studied with them.
00:50:33.039 --> 00:50:33.199
Yeah.
00:50:33.440 --> 00:50:35.920
I was not part of the sh part of the A company.
00:50:36.239 --> 00:50:36.719
Sure, sure.
00:50:36.960 --> 00:50:44.400
But I I found my way, but I found my way because I learned from these people by being around them, by seeing what they do.
00:50:44.559 --> 00:51:04.079
When you walk into a club, it's maybe a 90-seat, 100-seat theater, and you see a guy whom you've never heard of, his name is Paul Rubens, and he's got this really cool, kind of subversive quasi-kids show called Pee-wee, The Adventures of Peewee, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Pee-Wee Herman.
00:51:04.480 --> 00:51:08.159
And you say, Where the fuck did that come from?
00:51:08.400 --> 00:51:08.719
Yeah.
00:51:09.519 --> 00:51:12.320
What is going on in this guy's mind?
00:51:12.559 --> 00:51:22.239
And then you meet uh Miss Yvonne, who turns out to be this wonderful actress who literally who just passed away last year, yeah, uh, and uh Lynn Marie Stewart.
00:51:22.320 --> 00:51:41.440
And then you meet uh Phil Hartman, who turns out to be uh Captain Carl, and then you see Lawrence Fishburne, who turns out to be uh Cowboy Curtis, on, and then you meet uh Cassandra Peterson, who turns out to be Elvira.
00:51:41.679 --> 00:51:41.840
Yeah.
00:51:42.960 --> 00:51:44.239
Holy Christ.
00:51:45.119 --> 00:51:48.800
At first, and I this is Phil and I became very close.
00:51:48.880 --> 00:51:58.559
And I I said to him one night, literally, I said, Phil, I I was probably 24, and Phil was about seven or eight years older and just starting to really kill it.
00:51:58.800 --> 00:52:02.880
People were sending their casting just to see this group of actors do their thing.
00:52:03.119 --> 00:52:05.119
And of course, he ended up on Saturday Night Live.
00:52:05.840 --> 00:52:13.360
Uh but I said, Phil, I I'm glad I'm here, but you you are terrifyingly inspirational.
00:52:13.599 --> 00:52:16.800
And of course he chuckled, he said, But Robbie, you're not supposed to be me.
00:52:17.039 --> 00:52:20.000
Um it does seem a little bit daunting.
00:52:20.159 --> 00:52:21.519
That's the idea.
00:52:22.320 --> 00:52:23.679
You're in the right place.
00:52:23.920 --> 00:52:33.119
If you go somewhere and you're the king of the of the, you know, you're the prom qurom king, as soon as you walk in the room, you you don't want that.
00:52:33.599 --> 00:52:34.480
You're not gonna learn anything.
00:52:35.199 --> 00:52:36.239
Not a fucking thing.
00:52:36.400 --> 00:52:41.119
And you just came from a place where people were saying, You guys gonna go to LA?
00:52:41.280 --> 00:52:41.840
You're really good.
00:52:42.320 --> 00:52:45.360
And we were excellent perform just didn't have any originals.
00:52:45.519 --> 00:52:45.840
Yeah.
00:52:46.159 --> 00:52:58.800
But if you're here and you're freaked out, but you're willing to stick it out and learn and not take the punches you're gonna take personally, those you know, theoretical punches, nobody hits you.
00:52:58.880 --> 00:53:01.599
Yeah, you go home thinking, What am I doing here?
00:53:02.800 --> 00:53:06.000
Okay, what I'm doing here is gonna is I'm learning.
00:53:06.239 --> 00:53:08.079
This is where you're supposed to be.
00:53:08.320 --> 00:53:11.679
Let me tell you, Rob, you're not making a mistake by being here.
00:53:11.840 --> 00:53:20.559
You're very clever, you have a lot to learn, but you're exactly where you should be because you're not saying, Oh yeah, I can play with you guys.
00:53:20.880 --> 00:53:26.000
You can, not right now, but you will, and this is where you should be.
00:53:26.079 --> 00:53:28.719
And that was all I needed to hear.
00:53:28.960 --> 00:53:32.559
Not that, yeah, someday, kid, not at all.
00:53:32.719 --> 00:53:34.400
It was you should be here.
00:53:34.639 --> 00:53:35.119
I love that.
00:53:35.280 --> 00:53:42.639
I love that getting into just the zeitgeist of the 90s, right?
00:53:42.719 --> 00:53:50.239
So let's let's just fast forward to Animaniacs is going, Pinky in the brain is is going, and you're you're really hitting your stride now.
00:53:50.480 --> 00:53:56.559
In that time period, reflecting back on it now, what was that like for a very successful voice actor?
00:53:56.719 --> 00:53:58.800
Did you feel like a celebrity?
00:53:58.880 --> 00:54:08.079
Uh, and you know, because obviously getting recognized in public now by your voice, you you have a lot of kids that have grown up, but at that time your your target audience was was mostly kids.
00:54:08.239 --> 00:54:11.440
The cons were not as big of a deal as they as they are now.
00:54:11.760 --> 00:54:14.880
So were you getting invited to these cool Hollywood parties?
00:54:14.960 --> 00:54:16.320
Were you were you mixing and mingling?
00:54:16.480 --> 00:54:17.760
Like what was that like?
00:54:18.159 --> 00:54:24.559
Well, the short answer is I've never felt, and still don't, uh, as like a celebrity.
00:54:24.639 --> 00:54:30.239
And by that I mean that there will always be a cachet of physical uh recognition.
00:54:30.400 --> 00:54:31.599
I I I get that.
00:54:31.840 --> 00:54:45.599
Um, in fact, um, as you may know, and you you've kind enough to read the book, my ostensible reason for coming to LA was not just for music, it was TV, movies, commercials, all of which I was doing.
00:54:46.079 --> 00:54:53.119
Uh and then the mid-80s, my agent, good old Dick, said, You ever thought about auditioning for cartoons?
00:54:53.360 --> 00:54:58.239
Because, you know, um you sing, you sing in character.
00:54:58.400 --> 00:55:06.960
I'd already started doing a lot of on-camera commercials and radio commercials, and they knew that I could sing and they would I get hired now for union gig singing.
00:55:07.280 --> 00:55:15.119
Uh but there are a couple of new shows that are being cast in town, and again, I put myself in a position to get lucky.
00:55:15.199 --> 00:55:22.480
When I came here, there was no, in fact, when I first started doing animation, there was very little animation outside Saturday morning.
00:55:22.639 --> 00:55:22.719
Right.
00:55:23.039 --> 00:55:34.719
The three major networks, and then Fox came along, Fox Kids, no uh VCRs, no Beta Maxes, no satellite TV, certainly no video games.
00:55:34.880 --> 00:55:37.440
The only video games that were around were Pong.
00:55:37.840 --> 00:55:43.599
And that was cool when you smoke a little weed and walk boop and you go, dude.
00:55:44.000 --> 00:55:45.599
How does it do that?
00:55:46.079 --> 00:55:48.960
Um but I didn't just wanted to work.
00:55:49.119 --> 00:55:50.559
It wasn't like I said, I don't.
00:55:50.960 --> 00:56:08.719
I wanted to work, and I had and have, to my credit, if I can do that, I have the sort of ego that is not about being recognized unless it's being recognized for work that has meant something to someone more than me, and usually more than my paycheck.
00:56:08.880 --> 00:56:12.800
I've been rich and I've been poor, and as you said, I sure like the rich part way better.
00:56:13.039 --> 00:56:15.760
But it goes like this, it always does.
00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:21.679
Uh so I had the sort of ego that said, I just want to work.
00:56:22.079 --> 00:56:32.639
And so, you guys, the first thing I noticed, the first shows I did were back-to-back episodes of one new show called Transformers and another one called G.I.
00:56:32.880 --> 00:56:33.199
Joe.
00:56:33.519 --> 00:56:43.519
It turns out that they were one of the first examples of having uh a toy line connected to hopefully a successful cartoon show.
00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:44.880
Started that model.
00:56:45.360 --> 00:56:46.480
Started that model.
00:56:46.719 --> 00:56:47.679
I didn't know that.
00:56:47.840 --> 00:56:48.960
I just knew that I was at.
00:56:49.199 --> 00:57:04.400
And the first thing I noticed is I walked in the recording session for Transformers, and I recognized probably four actors, men and women, who were already there before I started working, every one of whom I recognized from Episodic Television.
00:57:04.559 --> 00:57:06.559
Oh my God, that guy was in Star Trek.
00:57:06.800 --> 00:57:08.400
She was in Bob Newhart.
00:57:08.559 --> 00:57:09.760
He was in Hee-Haw.
00:57:10.079 --> 00:57:11.679
That lady was in Green Acres.
00:57:11.920 --> 00:57:12.960
Oh my God.
00:57:13.199 --> 00:57:18.960
And they're all people I recognize who had good, solid working actor careers.
00:57:19.199 --> 00:57:26.480
They may not have been movie stars or regulars on a TV show, but I recognized them immediately because they worked a lot.
00:57:26.719 --> 00:57:36.239
And they're here, dressed like you and I are, having the time of their lives because it was the purest form of play acting.
00:57:36.480 --> 00:57:48.880
I'm going to be the monster, you're going to be the monster killer, uh, somebody else is going to be the female monster killer with whom you get together and kill them, and nobody cares what we look like.
00:57:49.199 --> 00:57:53.199
Uh and man, I called my agent and said, Boy, I want to do more of this.
00:57:53.280 --> 00:58:01.440
It took me about another two, three years of playing both sides of the camera to just fess up and say, I want to do this.
00:58:01.599 --> 00:58:06.159
I started getting more and more work, and then I get booked on a series, and it's all sag work.
00:58:06.480 --> 00:58:08.880
It generates uh residuals.
00:58:09.280 --> 00:58:13.199
Not the kind of money that you make if you're a regular on Everybody Loves Raymond.
00:58:13.599 --> 00:58:14.559
That's different money.
00:58:14.800 --> 00:58:20.639
But what it does do is it allows you to work several times on different shows in a day.
00:58:20.880 --> 00:58:24.880
And so I'm happy to compare my IMDB with Brad Pitt.
00:58:25.039 --> 00:58:25.119
Yeah.
00:58:25.360 --> 00:58:33.280
Brad Pitt is Brad Pitt, and he's got more money and more adulation and a bigger fan base than I will ever have.
00:58:33.519 --> 00:58:46.960
But I got to work on completely different types of shows, being funny, being a bad guy, singing, singing in character, coming up with dialects, dialects that weren't even authentic.
00:58:47.039 --> 00:58:48.000
I just make them up.
00:58:48.159 --> 00:58:49.760
And people hire me for that.
00:58:49.840 --> 00:58:50.000
Yeah.
00:58:50.320 --> 00:58:58.880
So in the context of the amount of work and the accolades therefrom, I won the lottery.
00:58:59.119 --> 00:59:05.119
I I love it when people say, wait a minute, the same guy who's Pinky is not a Yacko, but Dr.
00:59:05.199 --> 00:59:06.159
Scratch and Snap.
00:59:06.239 --> 00:59:07.199
He's Carl Weiser.
00:59:07.440 --> 00:59:17.760
He's Carl Weezer's parents, he's uh um Raphael from the OG TMNT, but he's also Donatello from the 21212 TMNT.
00:59:18.000 --> 00:59:33.199
Uh and uh he did a reboot of Pinky in the Brain and Animaniacs 30 years later with Steven Spielberg, who is the original producer, and Tress McNeil, who is Dot, and uh Jess Harnell, who is Wacko, and Maurice Lamarche, who's the brain.
00:59:33.360 --> 00:59:34.719
And they that's the same guy.
00:59:34.800 --> 00:59:35.519
That's the magic.
00:59:35.760 --> 00:59:37.679
I gotta share an anecdote with you about that.
00:59:37.840 --> 00:59:38.239
Please.
00:59:38.480 --> 00:59:42.960
Do you recall uh a magazine that has uh since been out of print called Disney Adventures?
00:59:43.199 --> 00:59:44.559
Yeah, I think I was in it.
00:59:44.719 --> 00:59:46.320
You were you were, that's what I'm gonna bring up.
00:59:46.400 --> 00:59:50.960
So I I want to tell you how long I've been a fan of knowing who Rob Paulson was.
00:59:51.440 --> 00:59:51.760
Thank you.
00:59:52.000 --> 00:59:55.679
In in 1996, Disney Adventures, I was a you know subscriber.
00:59:56.000 --> 00:59:59.280
At that time when you were a kid, you generally don't take in the credits, right?
00:59:59.360 --> 01:00:01.679
You watch a cartoon, but like it doesn't really mean anything to you the credits.
01:00:01.920 --> 01:00:17.760
I was six years old, but I used to read Disney Adventures, and Disney Adventures were at a contest, and it was like if you wrote in about what you would do with the mask, if you had the mask, you would you'd win uh going out, you'd you'd get a written a drawing of you and you know, animated into the show for a small role, and you'd get to hang out.
01:00:18.079 --> 01:00:18.880
The masked cartoon show?
01:00:20.239 --> 01:00:24.320
And then you'd you the kid who won that would get to go in studio with with the cast.
01:00:24.400 --> 01:00:32.719
And so the kid that won it, who I was so jealous of, they had a look, you know, the article of, and there was a picture with him and you, and it said with Rob Paulson, the voice of the mask.
01:00:32.800 --> 01:00:36.639
So that was the first time I said, Oh, this is a guy, this is the guy that voices the mask.
01:00:36.880 --> 01:00:39.119
Up until that time, I thought it was probably Jim Carrey.
01:00:39.199 --> 01:00:42.320
I was like, Well, I I I love the Jim Carrey movie, probably, yeah.
01:00:42.480 --> 01:00:46.159
And so I said, Okay, so that's the guy that voices the mask, huh?
01:00:46.400 --> 01:00:53.599
And then shortly after that, so I remember the name Ron Paulson, and then I would you know keep watching my favorite shows like Animaniacs and Pinky, and I'd see the name in the credits.
01:00:53.679 --> 01:01:01.679
And I thought, I thought to myself, like, I have this cool insider knowledge I'd tell people, I say, hey, hey, you know, you know this this this guy Rob Paulson, voice of the mask.
01:01:01.760 --> 01:01:05.039
Well, he's also he's voicing Yacko, telling other kids, right?
01:01:05.199 --> 01:01:08.719
And Oh, I wish I could reach through the and squeeze your little cheeks.
01:01:08.880 --> 01:01:09.199
Thank you.
01:01:09.760 --> 01:01:10.400
Yeah, man.
01:01:10.480 --> 01:01:19.920
And so I you were you were the first person that in my mind that I was like thinking about as like the golden standard of what a voice actor is, like how how cool that was.
01:01:20.079 --> 01:01:24.960
And I still have that issue of Disney Adventures at my at my house uh in New York, man.
01:01:25.280 --> 01:01:30.800
God, I don't even okay, clearly I have no trouble talking.
01:01:31.119 --> 01:01:33.920
This is where you have got me utterly tongue-tied.
01:01:34.239 --> 01:01:41.039
And uh all you folks out there, this is this is what is the best part of my gig.
01:01:41.199 --> 01:01:45.360
I've been around now a long time and I've worked on things that have become arguably iconic.
01:01:45.519 --> 01:01:48.159
Uh I don't draw them, I don't write them.
01:01:48.400 --> 01:01:55.280
It took 180 people to make an episode of Animaniacs and about half a million American dollars.
01:01:55.519 --> 01:02:02.400
When you have Steven Spielberg running the show, you get a full orchestra for every half hour.
01:02:02.800 --> 01:02:07.199
That doesn't happen unless it's Looney Tunes or it's with Steven.
01:02:07.840 --> 01:02:17.920
And the music and the scripts I had the privilege of performing, a lot of that music has really stood the test of time.
01:02:18.320 --> 01:02:25.280
And now meeting young people who said, Oh, oh no, I took note of this.
01:02:25.519 --> 01:02:27.760
This inspired me to dot dot dot.
01:02:27.920 --> 01:02:48.239
It might have inspired you to be a writer, it might have inspired you to be a stand-up, or just inspired you to go to school because you you really liked um when brain sings sings the uh parts of the brain, you know, hippocampus, neurolobe, and then pinky says, brainstem, brainstem! So people we've met people who have dot who are doctors.
01:02:48.639 --> 01:02:54.880
I was in medical school, and when we get a break, we'd go home and have a couple of beers and watch Pinky and the Brain.
01:02:54.960 --> 01:03:07.360
Yeah, no interest in performing, but the impact of high-quality uh entertainment that does not condescend.
01:03:07.679 --> 01:03:16.880
You were six when your lovely little brain was developing, and you said, Oh wow, shit, I wish I'd have won that, but let me see.
01:03:16.960 --> 01:03:20.559
Oh, wait a minute, there's a human that not Jim Carrey.
01:03:20.880 --> 01:03:22.000
Wait a minute.
01:03:22.320 --> 01:03:31.199
That made a profound impact on you, just like the people I've already discussed, including Mel Blanc, made on millions of others.
01:03:31.360 --> 01:03:36.159
Um, and it is the best part of art.
01:03:36.639 --> 01:03:41.199
And I'm saying that not off on my highfalutin horse.
01:03:41.280 --> 01:04:02.719
Um, as most of you know, uh at the MGM logo, Clarence the Lion stitch his head through the you know, MGM, and then uh around that logo are the Latin words ars, ars gratia artis, which means art for art's sake.
01:04:02.960 --> 01:04:14.960
And that is precisely why all of us, I would say, start doing this because we can't not, because when we draw, it satisfies our soul.
01:04:15.039 --> 01:04:34.960
And then we saw it to somebody and they get sometimes they get tearful because you drew um uh you you drew a um a wonderful portrait of their doggie who they lost, and then they start to get tearful, and it connects with them, and they tell you categorically, I will never forget that.
01:04:35.280 --> 01:04:44.159
Or you do a performance and somebody meets you down the road at another show you're doing, and they say, I I I know you gotta go.
01:04:44.400 --> 01:04:47.360
I'm sorry to your wife, I just need to talk to you.
01:04:47.679 --> 01:04:53.039
You did a performance that I saw when I was really in a bad place.
01:04:53.760 --> 01:04:58.880
I'm much better now, but your performance I never got to tell you.
01:04:59.119 --> 01:05:01.599
You really had an impact on my life.
01:05:01.840 --> 01:05:07.840
And I I need, I not that I want it, I need to tell you that.
01:05:08.159 --> 01:05:10.960
And that is the best part of my job.
01:05:11.119 --> 01:05:19.599
When somebody like you shares an a really wonderful story about something I was involved in and I was paid well for.
01:05:19.840 --> 01:05:31.280
But all these years later, um, I put myself in a position to get lucky meeting you because I just happened to be in LA at N Brandy's house, and you're walking your dog with your beautiful wife.
01:05:31.599 --> 01:05:33.280
What Kismet.
01:05:33.679 --> 01:05:36.159
Man, I want to I want to share that story for the listeners.
01:05:36.320 --> 01:05:37.760
I've been waiting to share it with you.
01:05:38.159 --> 01:05:39.280
I'm so glad you did.
01:05:39.440 --> 01:05:40.639
I will never forget this.
01:05:40.880 --> 01:05:46.559
It's the okay, I I've been waiting to share it with you because I said to myself, if I just tell this, no one's gonna believe me.
01:05:46.639 --> 01:05:48.559
Um because because here's what happened.
01:05:48.639 --> 01:05:59.840
I for the first so, first of all, you you and I technically we met a few years prior because you were kind enough to follow me back on Instagram when I had dropped a song called Millennials Anthem, and I had a pinky.
01:06:00.159 --> 01:06:01.840
The brain lyric and you follow me.
01:06:02.559 --> 01:06:04.000
Oh my, that was you.
01:06:04.159 --> 01:06:04.559
That was me.
01:06:04.719 --> 01:06:05.280
That was me.
01:06:05.519 --> 01:06:06.079
Whoa.
01:06:06.239 --> 01:06:07.360
Yes, that was me.
01:06:07.519 --> 01:06:18.480
And so uh fast forward a couple years later, and like you said, my wife and I are walking our little pup uh on the street, and I hear an unmistakable voice.
01:06:18.559 --> 01:06:22.880
And you weren't doing a character, you were just having a conversation, but I know that voice anywhere.
01:06:23.119 --> 01:06:24.239
So I said, Hey Rob.
01:06:24.800 --> 01:06:26.719
He turned around and I'm like, that's that's Rob.
01:06:27.039 --> 01:06:28.719
And so I said, Hey man, I don't know if you remember.
01:06:28.800 --> 01:06:31.760
I'm I'm 10 from Instagram, and I I told you about the song and everything.
01:06:31.840 --> 01:06:35.039
And he's oh yeah, man, you know, you were you were so warm and so gracious.
01:06:35.119 --> 01:06:37.360
And I said, I said, This is this is my wife Swasti.
01:06:37.760 --> 01:06:39.360
And you said, That's your wife?
01:06:39.519 --> 01:06:41.119
Well, I hope you don't mind my saying.
01:06:41.280 --> 01:06:56.559
Hello! And and man, that that moment for for us was you know the way you've described in previous interviews how Mel Blank made you feel when he gave you the what's up doc when you met him.
01:06:56.719 --> 01:06:59.599
I mean, that was that well, you did that for us, man.
01:06:59.679 --> 01:07:03.039
You lit us up, and that that only happens in Los Angeles.
01:07:03.199 --> 01:07:06.239
I think that moment only happens in Los Angeles, and I'm so thankful for it.
01:07:06.400 --> 01:07:06.960
Oh, 10.
01:07:07.039 --> 01:07:09.920
I I thank you.
01:07:10.159 --> 01:07:37.360
I I none of us who are so fortunate to do this gig, whether it's on camera or off, none of us can articulately quantify what a compliment like that means because it's not about my paycheck, it's not about merchandise or or ratings, it's about a pure connection of joy that you and your wife not only share together, but probably when you met, you said, Hey, you like it?
01:07:37.519 --> 01:07:39.119
Idomaniacs, oh yeah, I like it.
01:07:39.280 --> 01:07:39.840
What?
01:07:40.079 --> 01:07:42.480
And then you go, okay, done deal.
01:07:42.639 --> 01:07:42.960
Yep.
01:07:43.280 --> 01:07:45.679
It is wonderful to be able to connect like that.
01:07:45.760 --> 01:07:54.079
And then when you run into the knucklehead who does the voice, it is a powerful, powerful experience.
01:07:54.320 --> 01:07:56.239
And all it does is make you happy.
01:07:56.320 --> 01:07:59.599
Even if it's tearful joy, it's joy.
01:07:59.840 --> 01:08:03.039
And that is the reason we do this.
01:08:03.360 --> 01:08:05.760
Because, A, we can't not.
01:08:06.000 --> 01:08:17.760
And then when you start to realize that not only does it make a difference to you and you can put braces on your kid's teeth, but oh no, that this makes a big difference to millions of people.
01:08:18.319 --> 01:08:32.880
I I truly had no idea of the extent to which these characters connect with people on a deep level until I started having the privilege of going to conventions and and happenstance circumstances like you and your sweet wife.
01:08:33.039 --> 01:08:43.920
So now, as a result of nice people like you and the internet and people doing you know profiles, or they'll I saw Rob, there's a video, I get recognized more.
01:08:44.079 --> 01:08:44.560
Yeah.
01:08:44.880 --> 01:08:57.520
Everywhere, not every day, not even every week, but four or five times a month, and every time it happens, somebody will say, I'm sorry to bother you, and I know it's coming.
01:08:57.600 --> 01:09:02.720
They say, Are you are are you, you know, the the voice of Carl?
01:09:02.880 --> 01:09:03.920
Are you rah Rob?
01:09:04.319 --> 01:09:05.119
Rob Halson?
01:09:05.199 --> 01:09:05.920
Yeah, it's me.
01:09:06.079 --> 01:09:07.520
And are you with the IRS?
01:09:07.680 --> 01:09:14.479
And I look at them like that and I say, No, I just, I just, I, I, oh my God, I thought, I just, I was just watching you with my girlfriend.
01:09:14.560 --> 01:09:15.840
You're doing you're Carl.
01:09:16.079 --> 01:09:25.199
I was saying, yeah, I'm Carl, but stay away from Jimmy's mom, asshole, because I'm not afraid to take a swing at somebody's, you know what?
01:09:25.359 --> 01:09:27.359
I take it back, you'd you'd kill me.
01:09:27.520 --> 01:09:31.039
Um, and they're literally doubling over.
01:09:31.520 --> 01:09:34.720
It takes 30 seconds to do it.
01:09:34.880 --> 01:09:36.000
I won't forget it.
01:09:36.159 --> 01:09:38.880
I leave happier, they leave happier.
01:09:39.119 --> 01:09:44.560
And when I'm happier, which pretty much all the time, I have no reason not to be.
01:09:44.720 --> 01:09:51.520
Um, when I'm in a better frame of mind, I'm a better, not only person to hang out with, but I'm a better citizen.
01:09:51.760 --> 01:09:59.760
By that I mean I'm I try always to be cognizant of cool stuff that's around me.
01:09:59.840 --> 01:10:02.479
I I really try to live for now.
01:10:02.960 --> 01:10:07.279
God can't change the past, and I'm never gonna live in the future.
01:10:07.439 --> 01:10:08.720
Tomorrow it'll be Wednesday.
01:10:08.880 --> 01:10:09.840
Right now it's the future.
01:10:09.920 --> 01:10:11.920
If I go, oh shit, tomorrow, what am I gonna do?
01:10:12.000 --> 01:10:12.560
What am I gonna do?
01:10:12.640 --> 01:10:13.760
What am I gonna well?
01:10:13.920 --> 01:10:18.000
I gotta focus to find out how best to handle what's gonna go on tomorrow.
01:10:19.600 --> 01:10:25.920
I'm not trying to dig up snakes to kill them, but suppose I'm I'm dropped dead of a heart attack tomorrow.
01:10:26.079 --> 01:10:33.920
I'll never get to the thing that was freaking me out, but I lost track of this wonderful opportunity to be here now, chatting with my friend Tan.
01:10:34.159 --> 01:10:35.119
And all of you are lovely.
01:10:35.520 --> 01:10:47.840
All of your so I live my life that way because it turns out all the cool shit happens right now, but I'm also more aware of the struggles that other people go through.
01:10:48.399 --> 01:10:53.520
And we live in LA, and sadly, tent cities are ubiquitous everywhere.
01:10:53.680 --> 01:10:55.760
Yeah, but I've been in LA for 48 years.
01:10:56.000 --> 01:11:04.000
Never, ever, ever was Sunset Boulevard west of Crescent Heights down to maybe La Brea or Highland.
01:11:04.159 --> 01:11:09.840
Never was that anything but a good, easy place to walk, no problems.
01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:13.760
You might see somebody who might be down in their luck or a little drunk, whatever.
01:11:13.920 --> 01:11:16.479
Uh it's Hollywood, but nothing like this.
01:11:16.640 --> 01:11:16.880
Yeah.
01:11:17.199 --> 01:11:28.159
So I feel like it's my duty as a grateful, involved citizen to at least acknowledge the struggling of other people.
01:11:28.479 --> 01:11:35.359
And so I'm more aware of that by being uh I'm a nice man.
01:11:35.600 --> 01:11:47.520
People like you, and these opportunities to help or be involved or pay attention to others' talent or their struggles, that makes me a better man than just a nice man.
01:11:47.760 --> 01:11:49.680
And I want to keep getting better.
01:11:49.920 --> 01:12:01.439
So if I have an opportunity, sometimes I can talk to people if I'm upon them and they're homeless and uh, you know, clearly not necessarily unable to discuss.
01:12:01.520 --> 01:12:04.079
I'll say, you know, I got an extra 20 bucks here.
01:12:04.159 --> 01:12:06.159
You know, how you how what's going on?
01:12:06.399 --> 01:12:15.680
I don't do it every day, but when I do, and I find some a man or woman, young or old, whom I can speak to who's, you know, who's able to carry a conversation.
01:12:15.920 --> 01:12:29.760
Often, I'd say more often than not, 10, I find someone who's not that different than myself, and I realize how tenuous the line is between me and and and their experience.
01:12:30.159 --> 01:12:50.960
That sometimes they were an actor, sometimes they were down, sometimes I did something really stupid, um, and they made some poor decisions, and um I give them a couple of bucks, and they are unafraid to share how their word, how stupid they were, or hope that they can get but somewhere else.
01:12:51.119 --> 01:12:59.760
Uh, but now as a result of that, and I I don't I don't deal with seeing people online going, yeah, well, they're just doing it to self-aggrandize themselves.
01:12:59.920 --> 01:13:04.239
But if they're really helping someone, and they do, they have follow-ups.
01:13:04.640 --> 01:13:05.039
I agree.
01:13:05.199 --> 01:13:05.359
Yeah.
01:13:05.680 --> 01:13:06.720
Here's Michelle.
01:13:07.039 --> 01:13:10.880
She's a prostitute, and I've met her several different times.
01:13:11.039 --> 01:13:17.760
A couple of times I've been able to get her into a place to sleep, Covenant House, whatever, if there's an opening for the night.
01:13:17.920 --> 01:13:22.800
And in our chats, this is a gentleman get, she's decided that she's ready to get sober.
01:13:22.960 --> 01:13:34.239
And I do this with a couple of homes or you know, halfway houses or people sober living areas that try to help folks like that at no cost, as best they can.
01:13:34.399 --> 01:13:34.720
Yep.
01:13:35.439 --> 01:13:47.680
And so Michelle is gonna meet me here at the corner of sunset and um whatever, Coenga in five minutes.
01:13:48.000 --> 01:13:51.600
And if she's not here 15 minutes later, I told her I would leave.
01:13:51.840 --> 01:14:03.119
But if she's here at the appropriate time, she said she'd get in the car with me and I'd let her look whom who I am, check me out, I'm not a pimp.
01:14:04.079 --> 01:14:19.840
And seeing seeing how those people who had nothing uh except the kindness of a stranger who is not out to literally screw them, screw them over and screw them.
01:14:20.239 --> 01:14:29.439
Uh forgive my harsh word, but to see them and say, okay, uh what do you think, Marsha, Michelle?
01:14:30.319 --> 01:14:32.000
Um, are you sure?
01:14:32.159 --> 01:14:33.119
And they're doing this.
01:14:33.279 --> 01:14:34.319
Are you sure?
01:14:34.560 --> 01:14:35.760
I don't know, I don't know.
01:14:35.840 --> 01:14:37.920
I'm really worried about it, but are you sure?
01:14:38.000 --> 01:14:40.319
Because I don't want to try this so many times.
01:14:40.880 --> 01:14:41.840
I'm sure.
01:14:42.239 --> 01:14:43.279
Get in the car.
01:14:43.520 --> 01:15:05.279
And then a month later, six weeks later, they'll go to visit them at maybe the place that they got sober and they're working there to kind of you know pay back, whatever, or gainfully employing, they're getting getting paid 15 bucks an hour to help, to, to uh counsel.
01:15:05.920 --> 01:15:10.239
They're not professional counselors, but they know what the fuck they've been dealing with.
01:15:10.319 --> 01:15:21.680
Yeah, and uh the utter joy, the utter joy of the human kindness overflowing.
01:15:22.000 --> 01:15:27.520
I don't care how many cups you have, it would never be enough to hold that much gratitude.
01:15:29.039 --> 01:15:45.359
That is why I I I love seeing that, because it we know that people use this technology for nefarious purposes and convince young men and women to do horrible things to themselves and to others, or you know, fanatics about cut whatever.
01:15:45.600 --> 01:15:50.239
But we can also connect with people across the world in real time.
01:15:50.319 --> 01:15:55.119
So if we're not here to help one another out, what is the point?
01:15:55.680 --> 01:15:56.640
There we go, man.
01:15:56.800 --> 01:15:57.680
There we go.
01:15:58.000 --> 01:15:59.359
We and we can all do it.
01:15:59.439 --> 01:16:04.880
You don't have to be an actor, and you don't have to be somebody who's been in you know a heroin addict.
01:16:05.199 --> 01:16:06.319
You just have to have a heart.
01:16:06.560 --> 01:16:10.000
You have to have a heart and be aware, be open to it.
01:16:10.159 --> 01:16:13.600
You don't want to put yourself in a position that's dangerous, of course.
01:16:13.840 --> 01:16:21.199
But just acknowledging someone else's struggle it reminds you of how grateful we can be.
01:16:21.439 --> 01:16:29.439
Literally just laying down at night in bed, even if you're a week behind on your mortgage, you know you're gonna be able to pay it somehow, you're gonna figure it out.
01:16:29.680 --> 01:16:41.039
But you're in a warm bed and you have cotton cold running water, and if you all of a sudden get sick from eating a bad piece of fish, you have a bathroom you can go to as long as it takes.
01:16:41.199 --> 01:16:41.520
Yeah.
01:16:41.840 --> 01:16:48.399
Oh my God, those things are are such a luxury to so many people.
01:16:48.720 --> 01:16:49.119
Blessings.
01:16:49.439 --> 01:16:52.159
All it takes is a little willingness to be grateful.
01:16:52.319 --> 01:16:52.560
Yeah.
01:16:52.720 --> 01:16:58.479
So you're looking at a lottery winner, and people like you can help remind me of that every day.
01:16:58.800 --> 01:17:00.079
Oh, well, thank you, Rob.
01:17:00.479 --> 01:17:08.079
Speaking of when you and I ran into each other, I know that you're an avid sports car enthusiast, and I saw the very swanky ride you were pushing.
01:17:08.239 --> 01:17:12.800
My my question is uh when number one, when did you get into that?
01:17:12.880 --> 01:17:16.640
But number two, what was the first super cool sports car you purchased?
01:17:16.720 --> 01:17:20.159
And was it tied to any particular event or success?
01:17:20.560 --> 01:17:25.920
Well, oh my God, you're you're asking every possible question I could ever want.
01:17:26.399 --> 01:17:30.960
Um yeah, I've been a car nut since I could walk.
01:17:31.119 --> 01:17:43.279
Um, my dad, uh, I was born in 1956, and my dad had a 1955 MGA sports cars.
01:17:43.520 --> 01:17:47.359
MGs built in England, um, not very reliable, but cool as hell.
01:17:47.520 --> 01:17:57.520
You looking up an MGA, uh really drop top, four-banger, maybe 80 horsepower, but cool sports car.
01:17:58.079 --> 01:18:01.600
And um he had that from the time I was quite little.
01:18:01.680 --> 01:18:15.760
And my I remember the first memory I have of being upset that my parents, I thought, had dumped me, was that my dad brought this car home, and everybody on our block knew everybody else, small post-war homes and uh outside of Detroit.
01:18:16.079 --> 01:18:23.520
And uh our next door neighbor, Rosemary and Ken Lawless, and they had three kids, Greg, Jeff, and Susie.
01:18:23.680 --> 01:18:25.039
Jeff was my best friend.
01:18:25.199 --> 01:18:25.840
And so Mr.
01:18:26.079 --> 01:18:26.319
Mrs.
01:18:26.399 --> 01:18:31.600
Lawless was out talking with my mom when my dad came home with his MG.
01:18:32.159 --> 01:18:34.000
So he says, Get in the car, Lee.
01:18:34.079 --> 01:18:36.800
We're gonna go around the block in the MG.
01:18:37.760 --> 01:18:38.800
And Mrs.
01:18:38.960 --> 01:18:42.399
Lawless, Rosemary Lawless, took me.
01:18:42.640 --> 01:18:48.159
I was, I don't know, I was maybe three, two or three.
01:18:48.319 --> 01:18:49.760
So I'm in diapers outside.
01:18:49.840 --> 01:18:52.239
I can walk, but I'm outside in my little, you know.
01:18:52.479 --> 01:18:56.880
And they went around the block and I freaked out apparently because I thought my mom and dad had left me.
01:18:57.119 --> 01:19:11.119
So they came back and I'm you know, and my mom said, Oh my god, I felt like the worst mother, and you know, Rosemary saying, Oh, for God's sake, Lee, he just, you just, my God, I might he's I'm the firstborn.
01:19:11.279 --> 01:19:11.520
Of course.
01:19:11.760 --> 01:19:13.520
Oh my god, when did I come here, sweetheart?
01:19:13.600 --> 01:19:18.000
I'm at I'm never going in that stupid car again, Bob, all of that.
01:19:18.239 --> 01:19:29.279
So uh, and then my dad had uh a stereo record that he played in the hi-fi, which was a big cabinet thing that had speakers, and you open it up and there's a record player.
01:19:29.439 --> 01:19:30.000
Yep.
01:19:30.159 --> 01:19:32.560
Uh hi-fi for high fidelity.
01:19:32.720 --> 01:19:32.880
Yep.
01:19:33.039 --> 01:19:35.279
But he he loved sports cars too, and he liked racing.
01:19:35.359 --> 01:19:48.960
So he would have Formula One cars, um, the sounds that just in stereophonic sounds, and that was so cool because uh the the lotus would go from one speaker to the next.
01:19:49.039 --> 01:19:50.960
And how does it do that?
01:19:51.119 --> 01:20:08.000
Yeah, that would be a Ferrari and the sound, or uh a uh um a Ford, uh Cosworth, or uh um a BMW or something that was made uh special specifically built racing engines and how they sounded differently.
01:20:08.159 --> 01:20:09.840
And I was hooked on that.
01:20:10.079 --> 01:20:29.520
So when I got a little older, uh especially in high school, I had become um enamored by Porsche, my um German teacher, Herr Klose, was a German who fought in the Second World War against the Nazis.
01:20:29.680 --> 01:20:31.439
He's a very proud American.
01:20:31.680 --> 01:20:57.680
He gained his American citizenship and he taught German in high school, and I was a very proud student of his, and he had a 1969 Porsche Targa, which is the one um it's not a it's got a half convertible, like you know, you pop off the the roof, fold it, put it in the trunk or the frunk, it's the front and so rear end of the car.
01:20:58.079 --> 01:21:07.439
Uh you know, Porsche rear engine air-cooled, flat six, love the way it sounded, and I was determined that one day I was gonna have a Porsche 9-11.
01:21:07.520 --> 01:21:08.960
He had a 9-11 Targa.
01:21:09.439 --> 01:21:30.479
So I moved to LA and I knew it was gonna be carhaven, and right away I my the guy that my friend Bob, who drove out with me, we landed in Redondo Beach and in Hermosa Beach, the next beach up uh towards Santa Monica, had a wonderful Porsche dealer that was owned by a guy named Vashik Polak.
01:21:30.880 --> 01:21:32.640
Polak P-O-L-A-K.
01:21:33.039 --> 01:21:37.279
I think he was either German or Czech.
01:21:37.359 --> 01:21:51.600
I don't recall, but he was he raced cars, primarily um Group C CAN Am cars, several of which were on the showing room floor, in addition to all the new 911s.
01:21:51.920 --> 01:21:54.800
And pretty much in those days, that's all they sold.
01:21:54.880 --> 01:22:00.640
There was no 928, there was no um 924, 944, none of that.
01:22:00.720 --> 01:22:03.359
It was all the rear-end flat six Porsches.
01:22:03.520 --> 01:22:06.800
In those days 911 SC for Sport Coupe.
01:22:06.960 --> 01:22:07.279
Right.
01:22:07.520 --> 01:22:11.359
Um and so I would just go there, sit in the cars, they were great.
01:22:11.439 --> 01:22:13.279
The mechanics would talk to me.
01:22:13.520 --> 01:22:17.439
I was 22, and they were great.
01:22:17.600 --> 01:22:18.960
You're gonna get one of these one day.
01:22:19.039 --> 01:22:21.039
Someday you'll have one of these, young robot.
01:22:21.199 --> 01:22:22.319
And I said, You bet your ass.
01:22:22.479 --> 01:22:22.800
Okay.
01:22:23.279 --> 01:22:30.880
So all these years later, um we were living in where were we?
01:22:31.119 --> 01:22:51.039
I think we were living in, oh, we were living in Belled uh Beverly Hills at the corner of La Cieniga, and um I can't remember, it's one street east of La Cieniga, and um it was right by the Great Western Bank building on La Cieniga and Wilshire.
01:22:51.279 --> 01:22:52.079
Oh, sure, yeah, yeah.
01:22:52.560 --> 01:23:09.119
At the corner of Wilshire and La Cienega, and we were on the side street just east of La Cienega, and the opposite Wilshire at that spot was Portia Audi of Beverly Hills.
01:23:09.680 --> 01:23:10.560
I was out of my mind.
01:23:10.720 --> 01:23:11.600
I'd go there every day.
01:23:11.840 --> 01:23:17.920
Finally, I got permission from not only my wife, but my business manager.
01:23:18.079 --> 01:23:22.239
He knew, you know, I know you're gonna spend money, you but I know how much you want it.
01:23:22.319 --> 01:23:22.640
Okay.
01:23:23.119 --> 01:23:25.760
If you want to buy one, look for a used one, okay?
01:23:25.920 --> 01:23:26.560
No problem.
01:23:26.800 --> 01:23:48.079
So at Rusnak Porsche in Pasadena, this was 1988, and I had found a 1987 with 3,500 miles on it, Venetian blue, a light with a tan interior, coupe, not a convertible, and uh it was a huge savings.
01:23:48.319 --> 01:23:53.199
I went to look at it, pristine, still under uh factory warranty, so I bought it.
01:23:53.439 --> 01:24:04.399
I love it, and I remember clearly 10 picking up that car and just waiting for it to be detailed and brought out, signed the papers.
01:24:04.479 --> 01:24:19.920
I'd already bought a couple of new cars in my life, but this was when I was 31, and man, I jumped in that car and the on-wrap off of Colorado Boulevard of the 134 heading west.
01:24:20.239 --> 01:24:22.399
I had those windows down the sunroof open.
01:24:22.640 --> 01:24:27.199
I was screaming, just ah at the top of my lungs.
01:24:27.680 --> 01:24:45.359
It it was every bit, and I still get excited, it was every bit as exciting and remarkable and um a source of pride, a source of accomplishment, exactly what I had dreamt it would be.
01:24:45.520 --> 01:24:50.079
Uh, and all it did, of course, was pour gas on my desire to have space cars.
01:24:50.479 --> 01:24:55.279
And I've been lucky since then to be able to have one great car at a time.
01:24:55.439 --> 01:25:02.000
I ended up having four different 9-11s, uh, including a 9-11 turbo, a 96 turbo.
01:25:02.239 --> 01:25:03.520
Every one of them were brilliant.
01:25:03.760 --> 01:25:05.119
They ought to sponsor you.
01:25:05.359 --> 01:25:06.560
Oh, I wish.
01:25:06.720 --> 01:25:09.680
Uh I put 100,000 miles on every one of them.
01:25:09.840 --> 01:25:13.760
The first one I could do my own most of my own work on.
01:25:13.840 --> 01:25:20.000
I oh, by by the way, when I was a kid in as a senior in high school, my dad's a car nut too, and we rebuilt uh a Jeep.
01:25:20.399 --> 01:25:30.319
He wanted to rebuild an old CJ5, and we took the body off, it had like eight bolts holding it on, took it down to the frame, rebuilt it, um, reworked the engine, everything.
01:25:30.720 --> 01:25:32.159
You really are pure Michigan.
01:25:32.560 --> 01:25:32.880
Yeah.
01:25:33.039 --> 01:25:35.760
I'm I still got WD-40 running in my veins.
01:25:35.920 --> 01:25:42.000
And I'm not a professional mechanic, but I could work on fairly rudimentary stuff.
01:25:42.159 --> 01:25:44.880
Like I could change the brake pads on my 9-11.
01:25:45.039 --> 01:25:48.319
I could fix the valve clearance and the valve tappet clearance.
01:25:48.479 --> 01:25:52.000
If I'd have been able to get the car off the ground, I probably could have changed the clutch.
01:25:52.239 --> 01:25:53.840
But it's pretty basic stuff.
01:25:53.920 --> 01:25:59.680
That wonderful bulletproof 9-11, air-cooled, didn't have to worry about a radiator.
01:25:59.920 --> 01:26:03.760
Um, you just change the oil and they go for a couple hundred thousand miles.
01:26:03.840 --> 01:26:08.399
I put 100,000 miles on every 9-11 I had, two of which I bought new.
01:26:08.560 --> 01:26:28.159
And then I was looking to buy a new car, and I'd already had 9-11s, and I loved them all, but I thought, you know, this wasn't when AMG, Mercedes was starting to buy, to build, um, they had their own performance division of Mercedes, AMG, and uh their performance division.
01:26:28.239 --> 01:26:30.960
And so I started paying attention to those.
01:26:31.039 --> 01:26:38.960
They didn't really build a coupe, I'm not a four-door guy, but then they came out with the AMG GT in 2014.
01:26:39.600 --> 01:26:45.199
Also, they started treating uh doing treatments on uh uh sports coupes.
01:26:45.359 --> 01:27:02.960
Um they have a series that's the 300 series, which are uh coupe and four uh four-door, and then they brought they built a C63S AMG coupe, the 300 series as an S AMG car.
01:27:03.439 --> 01:27:06.319
And I drove it and I lost my mind.
01:27:07.039 --> 01:27:11.600
500 horsepower, front uh ceramic brakes.
01:27:12.000 --> 01:27:13.359
It's easy to fall in love with that.
01:27:14.000 --> 01:27:14.560
Fall in love.
01:27:14.640 --> 01:27:17.920
Uh it was probably about 85 or 90 grand new.
01:27:18.079 --> 01:27:18.399
Yeah.
01:27:18.720 --> 01:27:33.680
Uh I bought I leased it, and I drove it for almost four miles, ready to turn it in, and I put 100,000, no, I put 67,000 miles on it, but I had another two or three months, six, maybe six months to go.
01:27:34.239 --> 01:27:40.079
And there was a 2019 yeah, this was 2017.
01:27:40.159 --> 01:27:41.039
I bought the car.
01:27:41.439 --> 01:27:57.920
There was a 2019, this was the fall of 2020, and there was a 2019 uh matte silver uh AMG GT, it was new style, the GTC delineation.
01:27:58.079 --> 01:27:59.439
That was between the GT.
01:28:01.920 --> 01:28:15.520
Least powerful car and the GTR, the top-of-the-line GT model, which had 577 horsepower and all kinds of other stuff.
01:28:15.680 --> 01:28:17.119
But mine was in the middle.
01:28:17.279 --> 01:28:23.279
Mine is a GTC, and it was a 2019 with 275 miles on it.
01:28:23.600 --> 01:28:24.960
But it had been there for six months.
01:28:25.119 --> 01:28:35.199
Some guy bought it for his wife because she thought it was pretty, and it had 550 horsepower and 520 pound speed of torque, rear wheel steering, crazy nutso.
01:28:35.760 --> 01:28:37.760
And it was discounted a lot.
01:28:38.000 --> 01:28:49.760
And I talked to my friend um Ron Heller, who is the general manager, still is, and I said, My God, Ron, I I love that AMG C63 coupe.
01:28:50.640 --> 01:28:55.920
But I I can't take my eye off that off that used uh GTC.
01:28:56.000 --> 01:28:58.640
And he said, I said, I I know you've discounted it.
01:28:58.800 --> 01:29:07.359
It's still too rich for my blood, but boy, if another one comes around and maybe a couple months, I'm he said, Well, you know, you're a good customer.
01:29:07.439 --> 01:29:11.680
What what would you what would you think was fair?
01:29:11.920 --> 01:29:14.079
And I said, Well, Jesus, it's only got 250 miles.
01:29:14.159 --> 01:29:16.079
He said, Yeah, but it's been there for six months.
01:29:16.319 --> 01:29:17.520
And I said, What's wrong with it?
01:29:17.680 --> 01:29:18.000
Nothing.
01:29:18.079 --> 01:29:24.239
It's under warranty, but you know, just didn't tweak anybody.
01:29:24.479 --> 01:29:36.239
Uh the sticker on it was 166, and they had um priced it at 148, then 145, now it's at 140.
01:29:36.399 --> 01:29:41.119
And I said, Well, at 140, that's a deal, but it's still too rich for my place.
01:29:41.279 --> 01:29:46.479
So, tell you, you go home tonight, you know, I'll give you the um the window sticker.
01:29:46.720 --> 01:29:49.680
You can look at it, you know, look at all the stuff it's got on it.
01:29:49.920 --> 01:29:50.399
Think about it.
01:29:50.560 --> 01:29:52.000
Come back in a couple days, you know.
01:29:52.079 --> 01:29:55.920
And if if somebody wants to buy it, I'll let you know, you'll have a right of first refusal.
01:29:56.079 --> 01:29:56.800
But think about it.
01:29:56.880 --> 01:30:00.880
So I went back and I said, I I'm happy to make an offer.
01:30:01.039 --> 01:30:01.760
What's your offer?
01:30:01.920 --> 01:30:04.319
I said, I think I can do it for a buck and a quarter.
01:30:04.560 --> 01:30:07.199
And he said, Well, how about 126?
01:30:07.359 --> 01:30:08.239
Make me feel good.
01:30:08.800 --> 01:30:09.439
Done.
01:30:09.840 --> 01:30:12.000
I bought that car instead of leased it.
01:30:12.079 --> 01:30:19.279
It it's now, it'll be uh this fall, it'll be seven years old.
01:30:19.520 --> 01:30:24.079
I got 81,000 miles on it, hasn't missed a beat.
01:30:24.640 --> 01:30:29.920
Uh, I can drive it all day in stop and go traffic, 110 degree heat.
01:30:30.079 --> 01:30:30.399
Yep.
01:30:31.039 --> 01:30:31.920
Load up on me.
01:30:32.079 --> 01:30:36.399
And when I get some room to stand on it, the holy shit factor is just Oh my God.
01:30:36.720 --> 01:30:39.920
I have no business driving this car as fast as it'll go.
01:30:40.239 --> 01:30:45.520
But it ticks every box for a total gearhead like me.
01:30:45.680 --> 01:30:46.000
Yeah.
01:30:46.239 --> 01:30:50.720
And the fact that it's got 80,000 miles on it doesn't bother me at all.
01:30:51.039 --> 01:30:59.520
Because if I can work out a way to keep this one and get something else down the road that blows my mind, and for me, that's a McLaren.
01:30:59.760 --> 01:31:00.399
Yep, yep.
01:31:00.560 --> 01:31:02.319
Maybe one day, I don't know.
01:31:02.560 --> 01:31:03.760
Way out of my league at the moment.
01:31:04.159 --> 01:31:05.840
When you voice the other two ninja turtles.
01:31:06.079 --> 01:31:06.560
That's right.
01:31:06.640 --> 01:31:08.560
I can knock those out before I'm dead.
01:31:08.880 --> 01:31:13.199
But I'm always working on stuff, and I'm of the opinion, well, I'm not dead.
01:31:13.439 --> 01:31:17.279
As far as I'm concerned, I could score a big gig and I'll go ahead and buy my McLaren.
01:31:17.520 --> 01:31:38.239
But if I do, I have had a remarkable ride, as it were, in fantastic cars that I was able to drive and enjoy and talk to other car people about at a level that I never could have imagined, ever, in a million years.
01:31:38.399 --> 01:31:40.640
So, yeah, and motorcycles.
01:31:40.720 --> 01:31:44.560
I've sold my last bike because I've had too many near misses, but same thing.
01:31:45.119 --> 01:31:46.479
Safety-wise, good move, yeah.
01:31:46.640 --> 01:31:48.479
Yeah, let me tell you something.
01:31:48.640 --> 01:31:56.239
My perhaps my favorite line from your book is if I had to go to chemo, I'd do it in a bitchin' ride.
01:31:57.279 --> 01:31:58.640
I love that line, man.
01:31:58.800 --> 01:31:59.680
I love that line.
01:31:59.920 --> 01:32:00.399
Thank you.
01:32:00.560 --> 01:32:12.960
One of the parts of your book that that really uh touched me was you talking about during the chemo, how Maurice was in there and you guys were doing Pinky in the brain, and it really helped you kind of get through that.
01:32:13.119 --> 01:32:15.279
Pinky is a big part of your success.
01:32:15.520 --> 01:32:16.640
Pinky's won you an Emmy.
01:32:16.880 --> 01:32:18.800
It's it's made an impact to so many people.
01:32:19.039 --> 01:32:21.680
But what is it and your wife function?
01:32:21.920 --> 01:32:23.039
Very attractive.
01:32:29.520 --> 01:32:30.880
I do, I do.
01:32:31.600 --> 01:32:39.199
What is it do you think about Pinky's character that brought you comfort in in that most vulnerable time that you had?
01:32:39.600 --> 01:32:42.960
Boy, uh uh well, thank you.
01:32:43.119 --> 01:32:47.920
Um, a quick background, especially about the comfort and and joy.
01:32:48.000 --> 01:33:10.159
Uh, when I was diagnosed and meeting the people who were gonna save my life, um, my wonderful um radiation oncologist, the guy who put together the program to radiate my neck and throat, uh, wonderful guy from Russia, doctor named Henry Ampolski, just a delightful gentleman.
01:33:10.399 --> 01:33:18.560
And uh when I first met him, and I'm getting to meet all the doctors who are gonna hopefully get rid of this cancer of my throat, not my hair or my toe.
01:33:18.640 --> 01:33:22.720
And trust me, the cosmic irony was not lost on me, but why not me?
01:33:23.039 --> 01:33:24.479
Uh he said, Mr.
01:33:24.720 --> 01:33:26.319
Polsen, it's a pleasure to meet you.
01:33:26.399 --> 01:33:29.359
First of all, I must tell you that my daughter, she loved Pinky.
01:33:29.600 --> 01:33:30.880
She loved Pinky.
01:33:31.199 --> 01:33:34.399
So I must tell you that you bring much joy to my daughter.
01:33:34.560 --> 01:33:34.960
Thank you.
01:33:35.199 --> 01:33:43.600
Now, obviously, I know what you do, and my I have to have to tell you that I feel certain that we can cure you.
01:33:44.800 --> 01:33:47.279
We're not talking about uh remission.
01:33:47.520 --> 01:33:48.880
We want to cure you.
01:33:49.600 --> 01:33:52.880
But before we do, we almost have to kill you.
01:33:53.039 --> 01:33:54.640
And he started laughing.
01:33:54.800 --> 01:34:01.520
And he started he he sorry, I started laughing because he sounded like uh Goldfinger in the movie Goldfinger.
01:34:01.600 --> 01:34:02.560
I don't know if you guys have seen that.
01:34:02.960 --> 01:34:03.359
Of course.
01:34:03.600 --> 01:34:10.800
Okay, so Sean Connery, Goldfinger, is laying on a slab in Goldfinger's nefarious lab.
01:34:11.119 --> 01:34:16.560
He's got his legs spread, and there's a uh a laser beam coming up to his crotch.
01:34:16.960 --> 01:34:23.039
And as he's leaving, you know, Bonnet looks at Goldfinger and he says with all his brutal, You expect me to talk, Goldfinger?
01:34:23.439 --> 01:34:24.239
Expect you to die, Mr.
01:34:24.399 --> 01:34:24.720
Bond.
01:34:25.039 --> 01:34:26.239
Yes, exactly.
01:34:26.399 --> 01:34:26.800
No, Mr.
01:34:26.960 --> 01:34:28.720
DeBond, I expect you to die.
01:34:29.039 --> 01:34:30.960
So when you know, Dr.
01:34:31.119 --> 01:34:34.640
Jampolski said, but before we do, we almost have to kill you.
01:34:34.800 --> 01:34:37.279
I started laughing right away.
01:34:37.520 --> 01:34:39.199
Tan didn't miss a beat.
01:34:39.439 --> 01:34:41.600
He said, Don't lose that.
01:34:42.079 --> 01:34:43.439
Don't lose that.
01:34:43.760 --> 01:34:53.199
Your ability to make yourself laugh, uh, make fun of yourself, uh, do whatever to get through with joy.
01:34:53.279 --> 01:34:58.880
As whatever you can cultivate, it will be as important as my work.
01:34:59.199 --> 01:35:00.960
Don't ever lose that.
01:35:01.119 --> 01:35:01.920
And I didn't.
01:35:02.079 --> 01:35:08.159
Um, and it occurred to me, uh, as I say in the book, that I had all these characters inside of me.
01:35:08.319 --> 01:35:11.439
Um, I've always been a pretty good audience for myself.
01:35:11.680 --> 01:35:20.800
I I if I can make myself laugh or get myself a little tearful about something that I write or that I a way I deliver, then I'm on to something.
01:35:20.960 --> 01:35:28.079
Um and then I can run it by people I know, like Maurice and Billy West and Nancy Cartwright, all these other people.
01:35:28.479 --> 01:35:30.640
And they, oh yeah, that's you got something.
01:35:30.720 --> 01:35:34.560
And then I can stash it there like every other actor and record it and save it.
01:35:34.800 --> 01:35:46.239
But I can make myself laugh a lot, especially at my own silliness and my own stupidity, or my own getting wrapped up in something that really doesn't require any of my time.
01:35:46.319 --> 01:35:55.680
But I I make it a tempest in a teapot, and then I, you know, bitch slap myself more metaphorically and laugh at it.
01:35:56.159 --> 01:36:02.000
And uh I was able to connect with all of that, and I could have Maurice make me laugh.
01:36:02.159 --> 01:36:07.680
Sometimes it hurt a lot to laugh because you know I had I couldn't swallow, couldn't eat, I lost a bunch of weight.
01:36:08.000 --> 01:36:24.560
But when Mo came to visit, unknown uh unexpectedly, uh Mo doesn't live near um Doheny and Wilshire, which is where I was getting my my uh weekly um chemotherapy.
01:36:24.800 --> 01:36:26.880
Uh one day he sent me a text.
01:36:26.960 --> 01:36:36.640
He said, Hey Rabbo, you get your chemo at uh the satellite office, uh the Cedar Sinai satellite office on uh Doheny and Wilshire, right?
01:36:36.720 --> 01:36:38.960
I said, Yeah, he goes, I'm I'm right, I'm right here.
01:36:39.359 --> 01:36:41.279
I think this is your day.
01:36:41.520 --> 01:36:42.800
Oh, how did you know that?
01:36:43.039 --> 01:36:43.680
Can I come up?
01:36:43.920 --> 01:36:44.399
Well, sure.
01:36:44.640 --> 01:36:46.239
I said, is it okay if a friend comes?
01:36:46.399 --> 01:36:47.279
Well, yeah, other people can.
01:36:47.439 --> 01:36:48.239
You may have to wear a map.
01:36:48.560 --> 01:37:11.279
Okay, so Mo came up, and as soon as people found out that Pinky and the fucking brain were in the chemo place with probably, I don't know, eight or ten little areas that were, you know, uh had a curtain in front of them, and or you can keep it open and sit there and watch TV or do whatever while you're getting your your drip.
01:37:12.720 --> 01:37:14.800
Talk about a friend in need.
01:37:15.760 --> 01:37:17.760
I wasn't having a particularly bad day.
01:37:17.840 --> 01:37:20.399
I was I never felt sorry for myself.
01:37:20.560 --> 01:37:47.359
Uh Mo came up and not only fired me up, but helped so many others, some of whom were doctors, some of whom were nurses, some of whom were um, you know, uh chemo nurses, people were specific to that, or folks who would help employees, or patients who would walk by and want to get a picture.
01:37:47.520 --> 01:37:54.560
Or or would you please say uh, you know, ask me, Pinkie, are you pondering what I I want to say one of those with with the brain?
01:37:57.279 --> 01:37:58.720
You do it because you can.
01:37:58.880 --> 01:37:59.199
Yeah.
01:37:59.520 --> 01:38:08.399
And um I I had all of that joy coming my way, and there was never any doubt that I was gonna get through it.
01:38:08.560 --> 01:38:11.039
The doubt was whether I could do my gig at the same level.
01:38:11.199 --> 01:38:12.000
It turns out I can.
01:38:12.239 --> 01:38:12.800
Sure, I can't.
01:38:12.960 --> 01:38:21.760
I don't I don't have the same uh top two or three, four notes on my register as I used to, but it hasn't stopped me.
01:38:22.000 --> 01:38:31.359
Um but the upshot of that whole experience was um uh uh when I was doing an interview on KBC with uh Dr.
01:38:31.600 --> 01:38:32.479
Drew, Dr.
01:38:32.560 --> 01:38:37.680
Drew Pinsky, uh who said, you know, I gotta tell you, Rob, with the commercial breakout.
01:38:38.079 --> 01:38:46.239
I read your book, and to me, you exemplify what I've heard other cancer patients talk about as the gift of cancer.
01:38:46.640 --> 01:38:50.000
And I I knew exactly what he meant, and he's he's correct.
01:38:50.239 --> 01:38:56.560
Were it not for specifically that I had throat cancer, my story wouldn't be as powerful.
01:38:56.640 --> 01:38:58.479
It doesn't mean I want to go through it again.
01:38:58.960 --> 01:39:13.439
It just means that the aftermath of this impossibly difficult experience that I thought it was impossible, because it was it's brutal, but no more so than having your child go through something like that.
01:39:13.680 --> 01:39:15.039
I was already 60.
01:39:15.199 --> 01:39:19.359
If the doctors said you're gonna have to go home, we're gonna keep you comfortable, but you're done.
01:39:19.920 --> 01:39:24.399
I really I wasn't ready to check out, but I had nothing about wish to be deeply depressed.
01:39:24.880 --> 01:39:31.199
I had I already entertained people like you and made a difference to them.
01:39:31.439 --> 01:39:33.119
Um to the extent it mattered.
01:39:33.199 --> 01:39:51.119
I'd won an Emmy and Annie Awards and Peabodies and all that, and turns out that all those awards and seven bucks you'll get to a Frappuccino, I'm not gonna give them back, but you know, I'd have nothing, healthy son, nothing to be uh upset about.
01:39:51.439 --> 01:39:52.640
But they didn't.
01:39:52.960 --> 01:40:12.960
And now when I am in the gloriously privileged position of speaking to cancer patients or uh, you know, giving a TED talk, uh, talking about like you, you're giving me this wonderful privilege of speaking about my story, and it does have a lot of different happy endings.
01:40:13.520 --> 01:40:29.119
Um there's no truly, there's no greater privilege to be in than to be in a position to speak with authority about something that people have to deal with every day, and it destroys them, not only physically, emotionally.
01:40:29.359 --> 01:40:35.920
What happens if I'm a I'm a 29-year-old mother, I've just been diagnosed with breast cancer?
01:40:36.159 --> 01:40:40.000
Yeah, I got a I got a two-year-old.
01:40:40.399 --> 01:40:43.279
Or my husband was just killed in a car accident.
01:40:43.359 --> 01:40:44.079
He's 31.
01:40:44.159 --> 01:40:45.279
I got two kids.
01:40:45.439 --> 01:40:47.199
What am I gonna do with this?
01:40:47.359 --> 01:41:08.000
I I mean I I'm not the guy that can fix everything, but I have a story that can resonate with a lot of people, and because of what I do, and nice people like you who say, Oh, listen to who this guy is, I have an audience, and I I don't I cannot tell you how much it means to me to to be able to share that story.
01:41:08.079 --> 01:41:15.600
And that's exactly uh why I'm I'm an example of the gift of of cancer.
01:41:15.760 --> 01:41:21.680
I have other people who have shown that to me, often in the guise of small children, who are not here anymore.
01:41:21.920 --> 01:41:35.840
And they and their parents figured out a way to keep their children happy, and then keep the rest of their children happy when one of their siblings dies, and then they ask me how could you be so courageous with all due respect.
01:41:36.560 --> 01:41:38.239
But that's absurd.
01:41:38.880 --> 01:41:45.039
I I know what real courage is like because I've had the privilege of hanging out with countless children.
01:41:45.199 --> 01:41:47.760
Not me, not just me, we all do it.
01:41:48.159 --> 01:41:57.760
I can't get enough of it, and so I've learned how to take a punch from people who taught me how to take much harder punches than I've taken.
01:41:58.079 --> 01:41:59.439
That's beautiful, man.
01:41:59.600 --> 01:42:00.479
That is beautiful.
01:42:00.720 --> 01:42:01.520
Thank you.
01:42:04.640 --> 01:42:15.359
One of my favorite Rob Paulson anecdotes is during the audition for Animaniacs, after the very first one, you said to Tom and you said to Andrea Romano, if you don't hire me, you're making a big mistake.
01:42:15.520 --> 01:42:21.359
And five weeks later, uh, after you get a little note about adding in a little groucho marks, the part is yours.
01:42:21.520 --> 01:42:24.319
Obviously, you'd had a rapport with Tom and Andrea before.
01:42:24.399 --> 01:42:25.920
You worked on Tiny Tunes, etc.
01:42:26.079 --> 01:42:26.800
And so you knew them.
01:42:26.880 --> 01:42:33.439
And so you know, maybe there was there was, you know, you you said it like humorously, but it's still a ballsy thing to say, though.
01:42:33.600 --> 01:42:35.439
I imagine you had never said it before.
01:42:35.520 --> 01:42:42.720
And my question is, what was it about that script, that audition, what told you to say, you know what, this is it for me.
01:42:42.880 --> 01:42:43.520
It's for me.
01:42:43.760 --> 01:42:44.079
Thank you.
01:42:44.159 --> 01:42:46.000
I've never said that before or since.
01:42:46.159 --> 01:42:54.640
Um, and truthfully, if I had gotten that audition five years earlier, uh, I don't know that I would have gotten it because I didn't have that much confidence.
01:42:54.800 --> 01:42:57.520
Uh I'm and confidence, husband.
01:42:57.680 --> 01:42:59.520
I still wasn't being an asshole about it.
01:42:59.600 --> 01:43:00.560
And I did, I was chuckling.
01:43:00.800 --> 01:43:03.199
I said, you know what, you guys, I know I got audition.
01:43:03.279 --> 01:43:07.680
We all do, and there it's gonna be it was like a five-week period because they kept culling it down.
01:43:07.920 --> 01:43:10.720
But if you don't hire me for this, you're making a mistake.
01:43:10.880 --> 01:43:13.840
This is my pitch, and I'm gonna prove it to you.
01:43:14.000 --> 01:43:16.560
Um, I ultimately, thank goodness, did.
01:43:16.960 --> 01:43:30.880
But when I started, first of all, I'd worked with Tom and Andrea and Steven, and uh at the time Gene McCurdy was the head of Warner Brothers Animation, and we all worked together on something called Tiny Toon Adventures.
01:43:30.960 --> 01:43:32.000
That was before that.
01:43:32.399 --> 01:43:38.800
And they I felt like they were sort of doing their homework to come up with this brand new clean sheet of paper show.
01:43:38.960 --> 01:43:48.159
I didn't know it was coming until I got the audition, but I'm and when I got into it and was looking at the side and the script, I thought, oh man, yeah, this is my pitch.
01:43:48.399 --> 01:43:52.560
I can act, I can be funny, I can improvise, I can sing.
01:43:54.079 --> 01:43:56.399
And they're gonna have it's gonna be music heavy.
01:43:56.479 --> 01:44:02.880
I'd already done probably half a dozen songs for Tiny Tunes with a big orchestra, just like Animaniacs.
01:44:03.119 --> 01:44:04.479
It's a magazine show.
01:44:04.640 --> 01:44:05.199
And you know what?
01:44:05.279 --> 01:44:13.359
Even if I don't get one of the leads, I might get one of the secondary characters, and I never had one of the leads at uh Tiny Tunes.
01:44:13.520 --> 01:44:14.800
I'll be working a lot.
01:44:14.960 --> 01:44:18.479
So I'm gonna show them what I can do, whether I get the lead or not.
01:44:18.960 --> 01:44:28.159
But if I do this show, if Ninja Turtles change my career trajectory, because once you work on anything that's a big hit, people start bringing you into audition.
01:44:28.319 --> 01:44:29.039
They don't even know.
01:44:29.279 --> 01:44:30.319
But never heard of this guy.
01:44:30.399 --> 01:44:31.439
What's his name, Ron?
01:44:31.600 --> 01:44:32.560
I think it's Rob.
01:44:33.039 --> 01:44:34.079
Yeah, we'll bring him in.
01:44:34.239 --> 01:44:34.720
Never met him.
01:44:35.039 --> 01:44:37.359
He's on Ninja Turtles, and you know, who knows?
01:44:37.520 --> 01:44:39.439
He might not be any good, but what the fuck?
01:44:39.680 --> 01:44:40.960
And that's what happened.
01:44:41.119 --> 01:44:49.760
But when you work on something like Animaniacs and you know in advance that this is your high heat right over the plate.
01:44:49.840 --> 01:44:52.399
I mean, all I gotta do is swing at it.
01:44:52.960 --> 01:44:54.159
And I was right.
01:44:54.399 --> 01:44:57.600
Uh and that show changed my life.
01:44:57.840 --> 01:45:06.399
Um, precisely because I had the privilege of working on laugh out loud scripts, just hot off the presses.
01:45:06.560 --> 01:45:07.439
You can't read them without.
01:45:08.000 --> 01:45:09.359
Where did this come from?
01:45:09.520 --> 01:45:11.439
This cultural reference is so hip.
01:45:11.760 --> 01:45:14.079
Oh my god, this is written on so many levels.
01:45:14.239 --> 01:45:15.520
The adults are gonna laugh there.
01:45:15.760 --> 01:45:17.439
This is like like Lunatics.
01:45:17.920 --> 01:45:19.439
This is crazy.
01:45:19.680 --> 01:45:24.640
And I was right, and to this day, it has changed my life.
01:45:24.800 --> 01:45:30.640
Um, when we do Animaniacs and concert, I think I mentioned this, or even going to a convention.
01:45:30.960 --> 01:45:41.119
The the majority of the people who come to see me this weekend, uh Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Motown are gonna be probably 30 to 50.
01:45:41.680 --> 01:45:51.439
And they might be a little bit younger, or they might be my age and have uh a 38-year-old child and a 12-year-old grandchild.
01:45:51.600 --> 01:46:04.479
And all of them have gotten together since they were in college, and their uncle Dave told them about Pinky and the Brain, and now they all watch it together, and they all come out to meet Pinky and the Brain.
01:46:04.640 --> 01:46:04.800
Yeah.
01:46:05.039 --> 01:46:06.560
Because they all love the show.
01:46:06.720 --> 01:46:09.760
And the magic is exactly what Steven said.
01:46:10.000 --> 01:46:13.039
We are not writing a kid's show here, folks.
01:46:13.199 --> 01:46:23.680
We're doing a show for kids of all ages, like Looney Tunes, like Rocky and Bullwinkle, like Flintstones, like Rick and Morty, whatever.
01:46:23.840 --> 01:46:26.399
Although Rick and Morty wasn't out at the time.
01:46:26.640 --> 01:46:26.800
Yeah.
01:46:26.960 --> 01:46:34.159
But now, he said, you know, the kids are gonna laugh when Yakko Aqua Dot drop an anvil on Barney because he's insufferable.
01:46:34.399 --> 01:46:39.520
Turns out the real guy, Barney Bob West, is a delightful, sweet man, but he loves that episode.
01:46:39.760 --> 01:46:48.399
Um, and the the adults will laugh at the joke about fingerprints, where Yacko says, Um, I we're searching for Prince.
01:46:48.479 --> 01:46:52.239
And Dot comes out and says, I found Prince.
01:46:52.479 --> 01:46:56.479
And then Yacko says, now, now, now, fingerprints, fingerprints.
01:46:56.640 --> 01:47:01.359
And then Dot looks at him and says, I don't think so, and throws him out the window.
01:47:01.600 --> 01:47:07.600
And the number of young people your age who will come up and say, How did you get away with that joke?
01:47:07.840 --> 01:47:25.760
Because I remember my mom and dad laughing at that, and we thought it was cool that Prince was an animated character whom Dot was going to throw out the window, but we didn't understand that it was the ick factor of what dot inferred finger prints means.
01:47:26.159 --> 01:47:26.800
You know.
01:47:27.039 --> 01:47:34.239
Um, and so that is exactly why it's it continues to be relevant.
01:47:34.640 --> 01:47:37.199
And you felt that just from the first going into it.
01:47:37.520 --> 01:47:38.479
From the first script.
01:47:38.560 --> 01:47:47.920
The number of times that we would look at one another, and at that one, I remember Tress saying, I mean, this is great, but there's no fucking way it's gonna be there.
01:47:48.000 --> 01:47:54.159
And I happened to catch the show, you know, eight months later when it came out, and I told her, Hey, I'm watching, you remember that?
01:47:54.239 --> 01:47:56.079
And she said, You're watching it?
01:47:56.239 --> 01:47:56.960
I said, Did that?
01:47:57.119 --> 01:47:58.239
I said, it's it's in there.
01:47:58.319 --> 01:47:59.439
And she said, shut up.
01:47:59.520 --> 01:48:02.399
I said, No, it's it's in there.
01:48:02.560 --> 01:48:04.319
And there were a number of things like that.
01:48:04.880 --> 01:48:25.359
The references, the showbiz references, um, you know, the the wonderful impressions by Jess Harnell and Jeff Bennett, you know, Jeff Bennett at a Hollywood party that you alluded to, and it's uh it's you know, Chris uh Christopher um Walken.
01:48:25.520 --> 01:48:25.760
Yeah.
01:48:26.079 --> 01:48:30.960
Trying to get it find a way, I don't know anybody here to show me the door.
01:48:31.279 --> 01:48:34.720
And everybody laughs at Christopher Walken, but they laugh at Jeff's Bennett.
01:48:34.880 --> 01:48:37.520
Perfect impression of Christopher Walken.
01:48:37.920 --> 01:48:39.119
It's just great.
01:48:39.520 --> 01:48:42.319
So yeah, that that that's it, man.
01:48:42.479 --> 01:48:43.920
Wow, and the universe aligned.
01:48:44.079 --> 01:48:53.760
I it is because I I just knew I I knew I could do it, and I was ready for it, and I was going to be so bold as because I was so excited.
01:48:54.000 --> 01:48:55.279
My nerves weren't.
01:48:55.439 --> 01:48:56.960
Oh, I hope I get this right.
01:48:57.199 --> 01:49:00.079
My nerves were I can't wait to show them on the next reading.
01:49:00.399 --> 01:49:02.239
Because I can fucking kill this.
01:49:02.479 --> 01:49:02.960
And you did?
01:49:03.279 --> 01:49:08.399
Even if I don't, even if they hire somebody famous, I'm gonna leave my mark and I'll get work.
01:49:08.479 --> 01:49:11.199
And it turned out to change your life.
01:49:11.520 --> 01:49:11.680
Yeah.
01:49:12.000 --> 01:49:12.479
It did.
01:49:12.640 --> 01:49:12.960
Yeah.
01:49:13.279 --> 01:49:16.880
If you could bring back just one thing from the 90s, what would that be?
01:49:17.119 --> 01:49:24.880
It would be how much fun I had with my son, uh, because he's a turtle freak.
01:49:25.039 --> 01:49:25.359
Yeah.
01:49:25.520 --> 01:49:55.680
And he was born in 1984, and when the first movie came out in 1990, he, of course, was a huge fan of the preceding cartoon show, which I as Raphael, Thomson Coleman as Michelangelo, uh, Cam Clark as Leonardo, and Barry Gordon as Donat as uh Donatello, the late great Peter Um Renedae as Master Splitter, um, the beautiful Renee Jacobs, still uh April.
01:49:56.079 --> 01:50:04.479
But all of that, my kid, like almost every other child, with a Jumped on the turtle pizza wagon.
01:50:04.640 --> 01:50:12.479
And we had so much fun having his old man beat Raphael and all of his little buddies.
01:50:12.560 --> 01:50:16.880
You know, I got to do pictures for them and leave messages for them.
01:50:17.199 --> 01:50:19.760
Going to career day was a blast.
01:50:20.560 --> 01:50:22.399
Oh my god, that must have been incredible.
01:50:23.039 --> 01:50:24.479
I felt so bad for the other parents.
01:50:24.800 --> 01:50:27.279
You know, my kids went in fourth grade.
01:50:28.399 --> 01:50:31.039
Hey daddy, daddy, it's time for a okay, great.
01:50:31.279 --> 01:50:33.680
Uh okay, kids, listen up.
01:50:33.760 --> 01:50:40.159
Here, this is uh Jennifer's mother, and she is something called a mortgage banker.
01:50:40.399 --> 01:50:46.399
And we're gonna write that out, and she's gonna tell you how your mommy and daddy buy homes and how that works.
01:50:46.560 --> 01:50:52.640
And I mean, I love mortgage bankers, but I probably wouldn't have it at nine.
01:50:52.800 --> 01:50:52.960
No.
01:50:55.199 --> 01:50:59.279
And this is uh Kenny's uh Kenneth's dad.
01:50:59.439 --> 01:51:03.920
He is an attorney, he is a uh a trial attorney.
01:51:04.079 --> 01:51:11.920
You've all seen shows with arguments between this is what and he's gonna tell us about trials he's working on.
01:51:12.479 --> 01:51:13.199
Interesting.
01:51:13.439 --> 01:51:18.560
And okay, now this is Ash Paulson's dad, and he's robbing.
01:51:21.199 --> 01:51:29.920
And so, of course, all the kids had their own pictures that I was gonna sign for them, and the parents would look at me, and if looks could kill, they'd have been in prison for life.
01:51:30.239 --> 01:51:37.279
Because nobody's gonna compete with a bunch of eight-year-olds, especially eight-year-old boys, and Ninja Turtle pops up.
01:51:37.520 --> 01:51:40.720
Because half of them are wearing turtle socks, probably underwear.
01:51:41.119 --> 01:51:41.520
I was.
01:51:42.159 --> 01:51:43.840
You were, that's my point.
01:51:44.079 --> 01:51:59.359
And so that in the 90s, not only did I get to have a blast with my son because of turtles, but he was around when Animaniacs happened, and he grew up knowing Trass and Jess and Frank Welker and all these other people.
01:51:59.520 --> 01:52:05.279
And so these this was the time when the Warner Brothers studio stores, much like the Disney stores, opened up in Malls and the World.
01:52:05.600 --> 01:52:06.319
Loved those.
01:52:06.399 --> 01:52:06.720
Yep.
01:52:07.039 --> 01:52:07.680
Just great.
01:52:07.920 --> 01:52:10.000
The show premiered in the fall of '93.
01:52:10.800 --> 01:52:13.039
That was when my son would have been nine.
01:52:13.439 --> 01:52:27.520
And it uh the studio stores invited us to go around and sign autographs all over the country, uh, probably in about 1996, 95 or 6.
01:52:27.920 --> 01:52:33.600
So my son was like 10 to 12, and he'd get to come along, get to ride in the limos, and get to go.
01:52:33.920 --> 01:52:36.640
It was so much fun.
01:52:36.880 --> 01:52:43.119
And to be to get to share that and to let my kid, you know, you're with the band, kid.
01:52:43.199 --> 01:52:43.680
Come on.
01:52:43.920 --> 01:52:45.920
It was such a blast.
01:52:46.159 --> 01:52:51.279
And he got to know all these wonderful performers, all these wonderful actors.
01:52:51.439 --> 01:52:59.600
Um, because of all of that, uh, and working with incredibly gifted on-camera/slash voice talent.
01:52:59.760 --> 01:53:04.079
You know, Mark Hamill was at my son Ash's 18th birthday party.
01:53:04.239 --> 01:53:04.479
Wow.
01:53:04.800 --> 01:53:11.760
High school graduation birthday party um with his beautiful wife and his beautiful daughter.
01:53:12.000 --> 01:53:18.640
And but so was Frank Welker and so was Trasse and so is Nancy Cartwright.
01:53:18.880 --> 01:53:32.960
And it was such a joy to be able to share that with my son because I still am as blown away by that experience that we got to share together.
01:53:33.439 --> 01:53:40.239
I don't even I continually wear long sleeves because my arms are black and blue from pinching myself.
01:53:40.399 --> 01:53:47.279
Um I I know how fortunate I am, and my son knows how fortunate he is.
01:53:47.520 --> 01:53:55.520
Um and to be able to share that with you and your audiences, a privilege for which I have worked very hard.
01:53:55.680 --> 01:53:58.399
So thank you very much for taking so much time with me, brother.
01:53:58.640 --> 01:54:00.239
I got goosebumps from that, Rob.
01:54:00.399 --> 01:54:06.880
Man, let me just say from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much, not only for being so generous with your time today.
01:54:06.960 --> 01:54:10.239
I've taken up so much of your time, but for the I asked for it.
01:54:10.319 --> 01:54:18.319
Thank you for the the memories and the joy that you have brought to me, to my entire family, to my entire generation.
01:54:18.560 --> 01:54:22.399
You truly are a voice that will never ever leave our hearts.
01:54:22.479 --> 01:54:29.920
And the the fact that I'm able to have the privilege of calling you a friend now, that it really means more to me than than work than I can ever put into words.
01:54:30.000 --> 01:54:31.039
So thank you, Rob.
01:54:31.439 --> 01:54:32.079
Well, thank you.
01:54:32.159 --> 01:54:36.399
You've just given me the most profound compliment another human can give another.
01:54:36.640 --> 01:54:45.680
So if you don't mind having an old Hollywood dog as your friend, um, you know, I'm closer to the end than the beginning, so you can have my stuff when I finally check out.
01:54:45.760 --> 01:54:49.119
I'll put it in a big storage unit and give you the key later.
01:54:49.920 --> 01:54:50.960
Hey, this is recorded.
01:54:51.039 --> 01:54:52.079
That's a verbal contract.
01:54:52.319 --> 01:54:52.960
No worries.
01:54:53.039 --> 01:54:54.560
I I know Hollywood.
01:54:54.640 --> 01:54:58.880
I know I'm in, but you're gonna get a lot of shit you probably don't use, but I tell people this all the time.
01:54:58.960 --> 01:55:01.920
They'll bring me like a fun code pop, and I'll sell this.
01:55:02.399 --> 01:55:03.439
You don't need to personalize it.
01:55:03.520 --> 01:55:04.079
I'll say, okay.
01:55:04.159 --> 01:55:05.039
So I say, you know what?
01:55:05.119 --> 01:55:07.680
You can sell this for 25 bucks on eBay.
01:55:07.760 --> 01:55:09.600
Wait till I die, you'll get 30.
01:55:09.760 --> 01:55:12.800
And so I'm just a pleasure to be here, buddy.
01:55:12.880 --> 01:55:17.199
And please give my regards to your beautiful wife and your sweet doggy, and I look forward to seeing you again.
01:55:17.439 --> 01:55:18.399
You know I will, man.
01:55:18.560 --> 01:55:18.960
Likewise.
01:55:19.119 --> 01:55:22.000
And ladies and gentlemen, until next time, I'm all grown up.
01:55:23.760 --> 01:55:30.000
Oh, I was gonna say, psych and I dislocated my C5 vertebrae.
01:55:30.720 --> 01:55:37.119
Wait, I but stay away from Jimmy's mom and finish your coisson.
01:55:37.840 --> 01:55:41.680
I'm all I'm all grown up.