Alicyn
Welcome to Alison's Wonderland. I'm your host, Alison Packard. Join us as we journey through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole into the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games. A do a girl a favor, and please subscribe to this podcast and go on iTunes and leave us a good review. If you like the show, please help spread the word it really helps us to get heard by more people. Thanks so much. Billy West is considered the modern day Mel Blanc. And if you listened to any of the classic cartoons, you probably are very familiar with Billy's many voices. Among his most notable characters are Philip Fry from Futurama. To show so nice, they canceled it twice. And it's now coming back again with new episodes to stream on Hulu. I'm going to chat with Billy today about so many different things. So welcome to Alison's Wonderland, Bailey.
Billy West
What I know about him, Billy,
Alicyn
Billy, it's so amazing because I think of every single voice actor you are by far one of my favorites. But thank you. This is the disillusionment of celebrity. I kind of feel like I know you and that is to do a little bit. Yeah, my dad's old partner, coworker, my dad was a pipe fitter. Babson College for many years and outside of Boston, heard of it. And his partner was Joe Ross from Roslindale, who grew up on the flock. He was Joey from the block. That's right. Yeah. Remember him?
Billy West
Tilly from the plant. We used to hear him or just see him. He didn't know anybody was watching him. And he used to be singing. It'd be going up and down the scale. Really? Yeah.
Alicyn
Wow. Almost sounds like Joey McIntyre. But not to be not the same guy. No.
Billy West
We heard him sing and me and my friend and one of those things that stuck in our head.
Alicyn
That's amazing. Yeah, yeah. Growing up and walking around.
Unknown Speaker
Like alfalfa.
Alicyn
How embarrassing. Right?
Unknown Speaker
To me, you're only
Alicyn
meanwhile, if he was doing that now. You'd be like secretly filming him and
Billy West
you couldn't secretly do anything back then?
Alicyn
No, no. So Roslindale Roslindale. See? Yeah, it's like, I feel like people that are from Boston, you know, there's like a certain way of being and there's also like, there's those of us that are not there anymore, you know, right. Or whatever choice. You grew up there. I grew up outside of Boston. How
Billy West
come you don't have that? You know, sorry, US accent but
Alicyn
I don't know what accent you are in right now.
Billy West
The Boston accent that I grew up with? Yeah. So obviously,
Alicyn
I grew up in South Shore. So that's like Plymouth, Brockton. My dad was from Brockton. My mom was from Stockton, Boston. I
Billy West
remember when I was grew up, the only safe place you could live in Brockton was the firehouse.
Alicyn
Yeah, Brockton was rough. It was
Billy West
the home of arson for quite a while. I think there was like citations on city hall.
Alicyn
Or you entered? Arson? Yeah, you know, the Brockton fair.
Billy West
Yeah, Brockton fair. And let's see, I used to go when I was still small. I had an aunt that lived in Brockton. I had cousins that lived there. They were all over all my, all my family. I mean, my cousins are still around, but all my nice aunts that I had. They're all gone now. But I remember Stoughton and Brockton.
Alicyn
Yeah, stop Memorial Hospital, gutter, gutter hospital. Yeah. So as I was like, growing up, you know, uh, when as soon as I expressed an interest in voiceover Of course, everybody is like,
Unknown Speaker
that's Billy West. You
Alicyn
gotta need Billy West. My dad as soon as I moved to LA, he's like, you've got to find Billy West. Tell him to give me a job. I
Billy West
found you. You found me. I made sure that that you knew me. That's right. We we probably came over and you know, I'm a gentleman ComiCon was that the one we're in our BQ was playing I don't recall and our beat Michael Winslow. Was he at that one? I
Alicyn
think it was a different you know, he
Billy West
is now together to the all of noises in the police academy. Oh,
Alicyn
he's rad. Yeah, he's
Billy West
he's pretty special.
Alicyn
Now. It's interesting. You're a musician as well. Yes. You have been your some of your early aspirations and the things you were most known for in your 20s was playing in bands.
Billy West
I had a band called The Rogues and we were basically little rogues you know, we're all Irishman. And I remember it was nothing to carry your own equipment. You were like you were so happy to be doing pushing snow and sure we got a job you know that that $13 per gig and not for barren land and all the gear up here. Yeah, no, I mean, but But it's like it was such a labor of love and like you said you know and do what if I can't do this, you know, I don't care. I'll carry amps and huge Hammond organs. We used to play all over the place bars and things I remember when I was 19, we all got together and decided, let's go into Boston and go to the combat zone where all the strip clubs were. This was 1972.
Alicyn
So then how did you make the transition from playing a band, being in Boston to working on the radio for WB cn, and doing voices on the radio,
Billy West
it wasn't on the radio, and I loved them. But I used to say to myself Who talks like this? You know, let's can clo this complete? That's conclu that is all, you know, and I used to love it. I used to love it when they screwed up. They just were so hard. They were like, you could hear them whimpering out the door. I love my chance. I blew it. I gotta know. I'm gonna get fired. Yeah, that's right. I could do those guys. And I used to make fun of them and everything. And but that was all you know, you're building like a repertoire of styles and people and I was an observer. I was on the autism spectrum. So I was like a little alien. The United States just analyze spectrum analyze everything and everybody and every sound and yeah, not so much visually. But sonically, sonically. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Um, when I was growing up in Detroit, Michigan, there were Warner Brothers cartoons on TV, but they were prints of Prince of prints, you know, films of films of films. They didn't transfer stuff. Interesting. So in other words, by the time you got to watch it was all protons. Scratches was like, Yeah, but you could always hear the voice track and we used to get those shows from Canada from Toronto. And that's where I realized that I was listening to Mel Blanc. For the first time. Yes, like, I don't know, it was a life changer. Really. I didn't think much about it. But I just knew that something was like, you know, and hearing other guys like Daws Butler and Don Messick for Hanna Barbera dislike 1957 Those guys would wind up to become my heroes, my idols and some of the women like Norman McMillan and June for Ray and Lucille bliss. You know, all the old timers did you
Alicyn
get to meet a lot of voice actors? Yes. From that generation.
Billy West
Yeah. Well, when I left radio in Boston, I moved to New York. And I was working with Howard Stern and pay Robin I just farted. That's the guide to the show. I used to go out on auditions and I met guys that I was a small child when I used to listen to them. And they're you sitting there Jackson back his name was he was the voice of Bluto in the Popeye cartoons. I'm talking about the 40s. Wow.
Alicyn
Yeah. And he was living in New York at the time
Billy West
living in New York. He always lived in New York. And he did radio. I mean, he worked in radio before there was television. He was a narrator, he had a big voice. And that's where they loved them. They always hired him for everything. And he played a detective named Brian lo Vance, you know, and he would say she was a blonde, a blonde that would make a bishop want to kick a hole in a stained glass window. You know, just stuff like that. Silly. But there he was at an audition. And I learned what a journeyman is, to me these guys lived in castles in Spain. Sure. You know, I was like, how could he and I am in the wrong and I'm reading with them. You know, most of my heroes said to me, when I just said, I can't believe that I'm sitting here. And they were you been? We've been saving a seat for you. You know, I love that. Yeah. But it was the nicest thing that you could say to anybody that was new. Yeah, you know, welcome. Hey, guys,
Alicyn
this is Alison Packard. Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to let you know that if you like the show, please, please, please remember to subscribe to this podcast. And leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps us to get heard by more people. Thanks so much. Do you still feel that way? When you meet newcomers to the business,
Billy West
I tell, I tell them who's saving a seat for them. I want to encourage everybody and I think because of what I did, and what others my friends and my people I work with, I think because of them, it spurred a whole wave of people wanting to do voiceover. And I was flattered and I just thought you know what the industry needs you they really do I mean, the industry never downsizes This is the only business we have left. You know, it's not Bitcoin. Is that just when? Sorry, Bitcoin No, but I mean, we make sure business. That's our business, our factory and it never downsizes gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And then there was a movement in New York of performance artists, because they were super talented people that couldn't get a gig. They couldn't get hired on Broadway, they you know, and they were like, must have been hitting themselves in the head with a hammer. So they said let's create our own performance spaces and let's star in our own writing and it was a big scene people like Eric Bogosian and Anne Magnussen people like that. But now the Internet is a modern day version of that there's all these people that want to perform want to perform in the most, you know, in the most sincere ways, and I watch a lot of stuff. I watch more like stuff online than I do on television, or you haven't watch television.
Alicyn
or Instagram. What do you what do you
Billy West
what do you watch? No, YouTube, YouTube? Yeah, got it. Hey, guys. Hey, guys gonna be on YouTube. Like and Subscribe. Yeah, don't forget,
Unknown Speaker
don't forget, tell your friends
Alicyn
shares these. Yeah,
Billy West
but I'm glad. I'm glad it's happening. Because it's, you know, you're gonna get a lot of great stuff come out of all of it. Yeah, I believe that I have to believe that to believe that the business whatever business this is, you know, you're competing with people will have a zillion hits on online. Totally. They want to hire them and not you. And it doesn't matter what they sound like, you know, I mean, which is like the antithesis of art. Where it doesn't matter.
Alicyn
Yeah, we'd like to think that talent will eventually eventually rises to the top. But
Billy West
that's, I hang on to that I've always clung to that. Who knows things changing rapidly, but there's still people that blow me away. I'll hear somebody out of nowhere, and I'll just go look that that's fantastic. You know, I get excited.
Alicyn
Yeah, yeah. Well, you've had an amazing career. I was thinking about growing up. One of my favorite shows was Doug on Nickelodeon. And then, you know, he was
Unknown Speaker
painfully average lemon and half year old and this made pork chop.
Billy West
And they're 20 years older now. 25 years older now. So you think they're going to one kid is going to turn out one way and the other kid is going to turn out the other way? And then we'll
Unknown Speaker
do a journal today. I booked the courthouse.
Billy West
Going to court judge Roger Klotz
Unknown Speaker
order ordering the court. Order. Oh, look who it is. Finally you I knew I was going to see you in here. One of these days. You get up written all over your face even louder on guilty guilty loser loser. You're going to jail for five? Nope. 1000 years funny. 1000 years, years years years. Oh, no. Somebody somebody somebody should animate that. We should. Yes.
Alicyn
i Yes. Let me see. You.
Billy West
Betcha. Somebody out there could take that and animate it.
Alicyn
K internet. Do your day. Yeah.
Billy West
Don't make a monkey out of me. I'm counting on you. I know the talent is there. I know. It's you. And you. And you and you. Yeah.
Alicyn
Yeah, guys, and you initially and you. Always forget about you. But you're you're part of this too, but wow. Okay, so Futurama is now coming back for a third time on Hulu. Are you surprised?
Billy West
No. Because I always thought this show was too good to not be in production. Whether it was in streaming or whether it was on television or cable, you know, I just knew that it was too good to not be active.
Alicyn
We'll fill them our cars at the zombie animated series to show that never die
Billy West
coming back. Coming back. It's the Glenn Close of shows or something. I don't know. You know, what was that fatal attraction? I
Alicyn
know, I was thinking about it, but but
Billy West
I'm thrilled to death. And it was my favorite show that I ever did. I mean, I had done a lot of stuff for Nickelodeon. I've done Ren and Stimpy. Yeah. Hey, Red. Button. Me. We shut up. Yes, so do not be nice. And you know, that stuff was all screaming and yelling? Uh huh. I was married then. And I used to call home and I used to go I'm not going to be able to do this. I sounded like Alec Baldwin or something. I was like, after a while it No, I'm not going to be I'm telling you a violent, I'm not gonna be able to do the show. Violent, you know, and because the screaming was wrecking me. So I had to figure out a way to do it. And you will, if you have to, you will figure out a goddamn way to do it. You know, there's a zillion little places, and it's not all there. It's up here to everywhere and resting vocal rest when you're not yet. But sometimes when my voice is totally beat up, where you can barely do anything, a sound will appear out of nowhere. And you can make a voice out of it.
Alicyn
It's like the patient's saying a voiceover will Yeah, comes in. Yeah.
Billy West
No, I mean, like if I, if you're wheezing, you know, it's like, I gained like, 25 pounds during the pandemic. And I said, Oh, God, I gotta get this off because I'll be tying my shoe and I'd be like and then it's like mately the dog you know?
Yeah, and then then this little voice like, Hi, Hi, how you doing? You know, and I said that screwy voice. It can be developed, but it's only there when I'm wrecked. You know what I mean? Yeah, remember that little Man Boy or whatever he was. I shouldn't say to be more specific. He played piglet John Fiedler. I shouldn't say that about him. He's distinguish act He did a million things but he was on Star Trek and he he played Jack like a Jack the Ripper anyway, I'm gonna make you suffer, die, die, all of you die.
Alicyn
And he had this little I wonder if we can find that.
Billy West
You can find it, you can find it and he was in 12 Angry Men. I don't believe this guy. You know, he just had this crazy voice and I love stuff like that. That's so off the nose. I did a lot of screwy things for Futurama, like the Zoidberg voice was a vaudevillian named George Jessel vaudeville was around before television. And they were houses vaudeville houses where they'd be burlesque act and then their big baggy pants comic skirt and sell to like in the theater. Yes. And then there'll be a chamber music quartet, you know, people could sit there all day and see 12 You know, acts and a lot of them were amazing people Marx Brothers, you know, imagine being that fortunate. Sitting in there getting ready to throw a tomato, you know, for laughs and then you see them and you go, Oh, boy. Yeah, keep I'm gonna keep I'm gonna keep this. Anyway, there was a guy named George Jessel, and he was MC master of ceremonies. And he would say things like, you know, the definition of a smartass. I follow the considered an ice cream cone and tell you what flavor it is. And he had this marble mouth and so I took him and an actor from Yiddish theater, Luigi Kobe, who was in the Arthur movie, and he leaned in he went, What's it like to have all that money? You know, and I just thought it's so beautiful. There's these kinds of these Mosh mouths and that was perfect for Zoidberg young lady bring me a sandwich from the dumpster. And it worked because it the visual was there. Yeah, he'd have to be talking through all this cool meat hanging off his face. Oh,
Alicyn
lovely. I think meat hanging off the face is like just a new phrase that's going to start coming out and character breakdowns. But to have those meetings
Billy West
you're creating another cavity that you didn't have one of those you know, and it doesn't have to be a male voice doesn't have to have a Jewish accent. You know? It can go Italian. I was like, you know, she's the cavity thing. There's another person that had that like people that have these low you you know that kind of sound? I'm not doing it right. Catch me on a good day. You can get whacked at Dunkin Donuts. Try it too am. Hey, what time is it? Two o'clock? pm? Yeah. But that's how you find stuff. Yeah, yeah. If you want to make any kind of noise it can be turned into a voice of some sort.
Alicyn
Thanks for tuning in to Alison's Wonderland, where we explore the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games. Please remember to subscribe and leave us a review. For more episodes of Alison's Wonderland. Please visit us at www dot Alison packard.com. See you next week.