Intro
Welcome to Alicyn’s Wonderland, I’m your host Alicyn 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.
Hey, 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.
Alicyn
Happy Wednesday, everyone. For those of you guys that are just tuning in for the first time, this is Alicyn's Wonderland. I am your host Alicyn. This is a show that goes through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole into the wild and wonderful world of animation. And hey, guys. Hey. Hey, Dave, good to see you. Thanks, everyone who's joining in live. Today's guest is Griffin Burns. Griffin Burns is a voice actor. I'm sure many of you guys are already familiar with his work. He's best known for his work on Genshin Impact. He's also done HobbyKids Adventures, which is a Butch Hartman TV show. He also did Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and he's all over the place. He does a ton of commercials as well. Fun fact: Griffin and I first met on a commercial. So we'll talk all about that. And also good news, New New Girlfriend is going to drop a few songs at the end of the set. So be sure you stay around to the very end of the interview for some live music. Okay, everybody put your hands together for Griffin Burns, yeah. There he is.
Griffin
Hey!
Alicyn
Hi!
Griffin
Hey Alicyn, how are ya?
Alicyn
Good. You know, it just makes it so much easier when the people I'm interviewing are also musicians because then I could just use your song for my theme song.
Griffin
I heard that as you were doing the intro, that was amazing. Loved it.
Alicyn
Hey, how's it going today?
Griffin
Doing very well. How are you?
Alicyn
I'm doing great. I had a reason to get dressed and put on makeup. So that's always good.
Griffin
Yeah. Well, we were
Alicyn
I love the artwork in the background.
Griffin
Thank you. This is a, there's a site called Society6.
Alicyn
Yeah.
Griffin
And yeah, they have great stuff. And they have these like wooden wall panels. They come in like either two by two up to four by four, so. This was the first thing I put in my house.
Alicyn
I love it. You know, it's so funny because I have a yoga mat from Soceity6.
Griffin
Oh. Yeah.
Alicyn
I wish I could do more with this yoga mat, so.
Griffin
Yeah, I know, it's fun. You can deck out all sorts of stuff. Shower curtains. I don't want to bore my, the audience. But yeah.
Alicyn
Honestly.
Griffin
Towels.
Alicyn
Now, Society6 needs to sponsor this podcast.
Griffin
Pretty much, pretty much.
Alicyn
Well we know who can do the VO for it.
Griffin
They can also, Spindrift can also sponsor because I love me some Spindrift.
Alicyn
And The Dragontree dream planner. What else we got, pianos? They're great.
Griffin
Lights, lights from World Market.
Alicyn
It's so good to see your face.
Griffin
Yeah, you too.
Alicyn
Yeah. And thanks for everyone that's tuning in live. If this is your first time watching the show, this is Alicyn's Wonderland. We're a weekly Instagram TV show where we interview people that work in animation and video games. And we're super excited to have you on tonight, Griffin.
Griffin
Yeah. Well, likewise. I'm excited to be here. It looks like we got a pretty good audience. So far, a few 100 people tuning in. So, great.
Alicyn
And it started, guys. Make sure, there's a heart button down there in the corner, make sure to give Griffin some love. And if there's somebody that you know, that is a big fan of Griffin that is not on the stream right now, go ahead and tap the paper airplane arrow in the bottom corner, and then you can send them an invite to join us as well. We don't want anyone to miss out. There's also a question box down there, if you have burning-burning questions. We're going to take a little time at the end to get to audience questions. I definitely want to leave time for that. However, we have a little treat, New New Girlfriend is going to perform some songs.
Griffin
That's right.
Alicyn
So I don't know how many questions we'll be able to get through today, but.
Griffin
Yeah, yeah, and yeah, we're gonna play, yeah, three songs at the end, maybe around 6:45. You guys can hang tight 'til then we'd love for you guys to see us, so.
Alicyn
Perfect. Well, let's start. Let's go ahead and start at the very beginning, Griffin because I'm so curious. One of the things that I just love about you is the creativity and play that you bring to all your work.
Griffin
Thank you.
Alicyn
You know, you're always putting out new and really original TikTok videos and Instagram videos. I really admire them. First of all, they are funny. And second of all, you know, I know that they take a lot of work because I spent 90 minutes trying to edit a TikTok and couldn't figure it out.
Griffin
Well, yeah. Pro Tip: Don't edit in TikTok, if you can avoid it. B ecause it takes forever, but yeah, it does take a lot of time.
Alicyn
Yeah.
Griffin
Sorry to cut you off there.
Alicyn
Tell us about, like, your childhood and what you were like as a kid.
Griffin
I was a devil as a kid. Yeah, as my uncle would say, "I was a boy's boy." I'd like to run around the yard with my Batman pajamas on typically just the top, just the cape. And you know, I grew up on a farm, we had about 25 acres. A non-working farm. But I was born in North Carolina, moved to Pennsylvania. And when we got to this, when we got to this farm, I just was, you know, I wanted to run loose. In fact, they had to, they had to put a harness on me. Nah, just kidding.
Alicyn
Literally?
Griffin
But, no, I would run through the cornfields and gonna get lost. And you know, I grew up with yeah, go kart and just, just playing outside, building things, and taking cardboard boxes and making stuff. I just, yeah, it was a, it was a fun, good space for me to be creative. So, and my, my grandfather was a musician and an artist. So, I sort of had a little influence from him and my mom, and but also my dad and sister, everybody in y family's pretty creative, so. When I was little, my mom was doing a lot of painting. And my, my dad writes.
Alicyn
What does he write?
Griffin
Well, currently he does, a lot of times, aviation articles. He's a, he was a pilot for many, many years. And yeah, but what else? I don't know, I did a lot of sports. I played soccer, and swam, and played football.
Alicyn
What about theater?
Griffin
Theater, I actually didn't do because I grew up in Pennsylvania. You know, I think around 12, I didn't have cable TV 'til I was older. But we'd visit my grandparents, and I'd see Nickelodeon, and I was like, "Oh, I want to, I want to be in those shows." But there wasn't really an opportunity to do that. So I just focused on sports, while doing my own creative stuff, like I played, you know, played music in my own little garage bands. And, we set up a band just to do a song for the talent show. We played "All the small things" by Blink-182. And, yeah, it was...
Alicyn
A standing O?
Griffin
What's that? Yeah.
Alicyn
Did you get a standing ovation? Were they just like, "Ahhhhh!"
Griffin
I think so, I can't remember. It was such a rush, and I was so nervous, that the curtains open, we played our song just like, you know, we're seventh graders were like, stiff, "All the small things" like, and then the, you know, we finished the song, curtains closed, and there was a lot of applause, as I remember. But that was my first foray into music.
Alicyn
Wow.
Griffin
And that kind of continued on. But I was, I was really focused on sports for a long time, and actually went to college, and ran division one cross country in track and school. And it was probably around my junior year where I was like, I'm not going to be a professional athlete, so.
Alicyn
What, there's no professional cross country team?
Griffin
I mean, you could go to the Olympics, if you're good enough. I certainly wasn't at that level. And I realized, I was like, wait a minute, you, as a kid, you were doing all this goofy stuff, making videos, making music, skateboarding. I knew that I wanted to do something creative. So initially, I was, I thought I'd get back into my music. And I moved to Los Angeles, my sister was gracious enough to let me live with her for the first four or five months of my existence here in LA. And I tried to start a band but realized that was very, very difficult to maintain, and I needed to make a living. So I got involved in like, doing extra work, and I worked two valet jobs. And, and I booked a voiceover job about three months after moving here, just by chance. My brother in law was like, "Hey, you should join LA casting. And you know, on LA casting, there's barely ever any voiceover.
Alicyn
See, that's what I was gonna say.
Griffin
Yeah, so there was just this one random voiceover audition, it was like looking for a 20 some sounding soldier and it was for San Diego's Balboa Park. And because I had the music background experience and the home recording setup, I thought, well, you know, I sound young. I'm gonna try auditioning for this. And I did, I spent ridiculous amounts of time on it, like three hours in my sister's closet trying to perfect this read. And I said,
Alicyn
Nailed it.
Griffin
Yeah, well, I sent it off, forgot about it. And then three weeks later, the guy's like, "Yeah, you booked the part." And, you know, I,
Alicyn
You get $50.
Griffin
Well, actually, actually, it didn't. I moved out here with about 1100 bucks to my name and that job paid $1100. Sorry, my screen shaking. So to me it was like the light bulb, the big ass light bulb went off and I was just like, "This is cool. I need to figure out how to do this more often."
Alicyn
Yeah.
Griffin
And repeat this, like, how could I repeat this? So.
Alicyn
Your sister's a voice actor, is a voice actress as well, right?
Griffin
Yes, she is. Um, I actually got her involved in it. I was probably,
Alicyn
Oh you got her involved in it? Oh.
Griffin
Yeah. Yep. Yep. She actually was doing wardrobe for TV and film for many, many years. Big, big shows and movies. And then I came along, and I did, I got into VO, and, probably about 2014-2015, there was an audition that I got that was like, "Antonia, I think you're perfect for this." It was a toy. And they wanted somebody who could sound like, I think, like a little boy, but I knew I couldn't. It was too young. It was like five years old.
Alicyn
Yeah, yeah.
Griffin
I was like, "You should do this!" And she booked it. And so then she got repped by one of my agents, and then sort of the rest is history with her. But yeah, that happened later.
Alicyn
Wow.
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
It's amazing how that stuff comes full circle.
Griffin
It is, it's, we actually both. It's wild. We both that year, it was I guess 2015, we both got text-to-speech jobs, which is, just the odds of getting those jobs is not very high. And for anybody watching a text-to-speech job, it's kind of boring, but you know, sort of assistant voices for let's say, like Alexa or I don't know, whatever assistance that are out there. You're providing enough verbiage for it to make the voice, to make this robot's voice. And so yeah, we both did jobs that year, at the same time, I did one for a project called Jibo, which I can talk about, because it went out of business. And then my sister did a mega job, which we can't talk about. But, anyways.
Alicyn
Oh.
Griffin
Secret.
Alicyn
Isn't she...
Griffin
NDA's. NDA's
Alicyn
Respect the NDA Ali.
Griffin
Respect the NDA, yeah.
Alicyn
So, with all your sports training? Do you think that that helped you build your career, since voice, being a voice actor is so self-motivated? Do you think it gave you kind of the discipline to work?
Griffin
Yes.
Alicyn
Tell us about that a little bit.
Griffin
That's a great question, and I think you kind of nailed it. The, and this is what I like to tell people too, is like, yeah, you want to do well in school, but the thing that you really want to develop is a work ethic, right? So, oh, somebody is texting me, okay.
Alicyn
Or a play ethic?
Griffin
Or a play, or a play ethic, um, but I think doing the cross country and track for so many years, even into the years where I was kind of getting burnt out, having the, having that discipline to get up early, say like 6am, knock out four miles, go to school, and then do a nine mile run at the end of the day, does sort of, it does something to your brain. It might make you miserable.
Alicyn
You had me before like, "Yeah, yeah." Then I was like, followed by nice, what?
Griffin
Well, my highest week, Alicyn, was 82 miles in a week. One summer.
Alicyn
Oh my God.
Griffin
It was nuts. I was working in the summers as a groundskeeper at, where my grandparents, who lived in Florida, moved up to Pennsylvania, they were in a community. And I worked there as a groundskeeper, worked outside all day, pulling weeds and mowing lawns. When, and would do like 14 or 15 miles of running around that schedule. It was one of the worst summers. But if you can do that, you can do anything, right?
Alicyn
Yeah, I think it's true. I do think, you know, and I was not good at sports. I would be on sports and and be like the class clown. The, I did do track and I won an award. My award was most Snickers eaten at a track meet. A delightful award to get as a teenage girl. I didn't, I didn't get that, you know, why we were doing it. Meanwhile, like, you know, when it came to theater, right? It was much more.
Griffin
So you did a lot of theater, I take it.
Alicyn
Yeah. Yeah. Like musical theater and community theater.
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
But I did gymnastics for a little while too. But I,
Griffin
That's cool.
Alicyn
You know, yeah. Yeah. But, but back to, back to you. And kind of, well, first of all, do you remember, do you even remember the first time we met? I, Mark Risley had said, "You guys need to look out for each other. You guys would totally hit it off."
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
But then we worked on some commercial remember over in lime? What was that?
Griffin
Yes. Was it, I almost want to say it was,
Alicyn
Wasn't Justine Huxley in there too? Was that the same day?
Griffin
She, she may have? I don't remember seeing her that day. I do know Justine from my DPN. I was with DPN for a brief bit. And for anybody watching that's an agency, a voiceover agency. But yeah, I think we were working on a truth campaign was it for a PSA kind of thing. Do you remember doing a truth commercial? Like anti-vaping or anti-smoking?
Alicyn
Nope, I don't remember that.
Griffin
Because I, okay, that's what I recall. But it's been a while. That's probably four years ago.
Alicyn
Yeah, it's been a while. But it's been so great to see kind of what you've been bringing to the table in terms of your creative content. And that's a big reason why I wanted to reach out.
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
I definitely admire that. And your, the amount that you're putting out like a true millennial.
Griffin
Yeah, I went for it.
Alicyn
Here or wherever, you know.
Griffin
I think I'm technically, well, I'm not gonna say my, I'm not gonna say my birth year.
Alicyn
Is it not on the internet?
Griffin
I, no. It's wrong. It's wrong on the internet. You can look it up. It's wrong.
Alicyn
In your favor?
Griffin
It's, it's in my favor, but I actually shouldn't even have said that.
Alicyn
Your secret's safe Griffin.
Griffin
Anyway, what were we talking about?
Alicyn
We're talking about how you're always putting out new content and really creating a big community with your fans.
Griffin
Yeah!
Alicyn
It's amazing.
Griffin
My fans are so fun. I would, I'm just going to take a guess that most of my fans probably are in the Gen Z category.
Alicyn
Okay, guys, um, type your generation that you most identify with in the comments, and we'll see what comes through.
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
Yeah shorty. Is he 24? Yeah, you're about 24, right?
Griffin
Yeah!
Alicyn
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Griffin
I'm close to that.
Alicyn
But um, there's always like, a bit of a lag. So it might take a minute, but uh, yeah, so you think most people are in the Gen Z category? What's after Gen Z?
Griffin
Gen Z? I don't know. Kylen, what's after Gen Z? Do you know? Yeah, my bandmates over here because we're gonna do music later. But the after, is there? Well, no, before. What's younger than Gen Z? Do you know? Oh, we don't, I don't think.
Alicyn
They're babies. They haven't been named yet?
Griffin
Anyways, so, um, we, I did, I found out that Genshin Impact was, you know, quite the game, people are really loving it. And I, before this, I had, I had done a role called Doppio on Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. And I'm just kind of a goofy creative guy, like, and I just, I don't know, I was kind of new to social media. I never took it that seriously. And I just, I started taking some liberties and having fun with Doppio. I made memes, which I was new to making, I started learning how to use Photoshop. And I would post these sort of goofy recaps of my episode, like something would happen in the episode. Someone would die or whatever, I don't know, or something crazy. And then I would take sort of an image from it and put put my face on it or something. And but, you know, keep Doppio's hair and, and clothing or whatever. And people really enjoyed it. And, and so I was like, encouraged by this, like, "Okay, well, this is super fun for me." I love, I really, I genuinely like to edit photos and video. That's sort of a recent hobby. And so I was getting a kick out of posting these, these things. And I think fans were a little surprised, like, wow, you know, I don't, I think a lot of fans have commented, I don't see voice actors really doing this.
Alicyn
Because it's cause like, you know, it takes like an hour and a half to figure out how to import the footage into.
Griffin
Yeah, yeah, I think it's partly time and partly, you know, people are like, you know, maybe playing it really safe with the characters and stuff. So and I totally understand that. So, but I was doing this and having fun with it and getting a good response. So I continued to do more of it. And then Genshin Impact came out, became huge, and that character Childe or Tartaglia, who I play, is super fun and has kind of, like, a little bit of a dual personality where he borderlines, you don't know if he's bad or good. And he's got a lot of, you know,
Oh. Type cast again.
Alicyn
Yeah, I know. And so, I think fans are really drawn to him first, maybe that reason, he's kind of a bad boy, but also, you know, kind of charming, and I ran with it. Had well, I should backtrack. Part of the reason why I ran with it is also that I joined Cameo, and Alicyn I don't know if you're on Cameo.
Yeah, I'm new to Cameo, but yeah.
Griffin
But I was, I was interacting with people that way and I would see what people asked me for on there like, "Hey, I saw you did this one thing. Would you want to sing the song or sing Rasputin as Childe?" and then that got the wheels turning like, "Actually that would be pretty cool. Let me try that." So I was taking a lot of cues from suggestions on there, too.
Alicyn
That's awesome to be able, I think, for fans too, to have that back and forth feedback and know that you're heard and appreciated, that, that's refreshing.
Griffin
Yeah, yeah, and yeah, the fans have been great. I've gotten a lot of, you know, awesome requests for birthday messages and people that are just maybe having a rough time during the pandemic, and to be able to offer a little bit, a smile or a laugh through my content is rewarding. I've read, I've read comments saying like, "You know, I've been feeling kind of low lately. And when I, when I see your videos, it picks me up." So that's really cool. I feel like I, feel like I've put something good out there for people.
Alicyn
Yeah. Awe, that's so sweet. So let's talk Genshin Impact.
Griffin
Sure, sure.
Alicyn
What do you think it is that makes the show so beloved?
Griffin
Well, I think this, I think the game is, is a good mix between like an open world kind of like Zelda game, but also has anime elements. And so it's very unique in that way. Now, I'm not a big gamer, so I don't want to try to act like I know everything about the game, but um, I think it's because it ties those two elements together. And there's, I think anime has become even more and more popular, thanks to say Netflix, there's a lot more dubs being made. They're being brought to Netflix. So the fandom seems to be growing around that stuff. And yeah, I don't know, I think you know, the game's full of interesting likeable characters. And, and, I mean, Kylen isn't the world in that game, just like, absolutely open-ended. You can explore, and explore, and explore. Yeah, so it's, you know, if you like that kind of game, and I think a lot of people do, so.
Alicyn
And can you do a little sample of Childe for us?
Griffin
Sure. (As Childe) Hey, girlie, hold still. I'm number 11 of the Fatui Harbingers codename Childe, but I also go by Tartaglia and you, you sure like to cause quite the stir, don't you?" There you go.
Alicyn
That was just for me, guys.
Griffin
Yes, that's right.
Alicyn
Yeah, well, at first, I was like, "Hey, girl, hold still." And it's kind of like a Ryan Reynolds kind of flavor to it. And I was like, that sounds like, I don't know what that sounds like. I don't know exactly what we're implying, but then then you have to explain it to me that that's his, his tagline more or less? Oh my god. There's already 50 questions in the question box right now.
Griffin
Oh, my goodness. Wow.
Alicyn
Well, I want to make sure we do get to some fan questions. But um, I guess I was just curious. If you wanted to talk anything about what you see is kind of some next dream, steps, goals for you. In your Griffin Empire.
Griffin
Um, well, um, I would love to do, and I have some some exciting news, I can't really share yet. But I got a nice juicy part in an original animation that's going to be on network TV and as well as streaming, and it won't be out probably 'til 2022. But I would love to do more, more original animation. I've gotten you know, bit parts here and there. But this, this show is, is going to be a good one. And I'm really excited about it. So yeah, more of that. I'm honestly more of the same. I love what I do. I love, I love performance and voice acting, I'd love to do more music. We were putting out another single here shortly. And we're, my bandmate and I are very passionate about it, you know. If we could, I don't, I don't expect to make a living at it because I already have sort of my voiceover career thing going but if, if I could do that, too, and that was a viable living, that would be amazing. I would feel so proud to be able to make some money at music.
Alicyn
Well, you know, I mean, you could kind of, this is just a fun plan, when you're traveling to different cities for cons,
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
Book shows in those cities as your band and,
Griffin
That would be really cool.
Alicyn
Because then your travel's already paid for so anything you work for could just, you know, be extra, go to charity or however.
Griffin
Absolutely. And also it could be something I offer at cons if people were interested in like a New New Girlfriend performance because I mean, Kylen and I, we've been doing, we've been doing these live streams on TikTok of us just playing, and we get a nice audience. So, you know if it translates to say 400 or 500 people that want to see it at a con, I think that would be, it would be worth doing, so.
Alicyn
I'd sign up for that, that sounds like a lot of fun.
Griffin
Yeah, I would, I would love that.
Alicyn
Well guys, hit up your local con and let them know you want to see New New Girlfriend.
Griffin
We would really appreciate that guys. That would be amazing. When cons come back.
Alicyn
Any, any, do you guys have any merch, New New Girlfriend?
Griffin
We don't have any New New Girlfriend merch. We have music on all streaming platforms, but yeah, nothing, nothing for sale at the moment though.
Alicyn
The best way people can spur you right now is to download, share, and save the music?
Griffin
Yeah, or just go to, go to Spotify. If you guys have a Spotify account, just type in New New Girlfriend and you can listen for free or whatever your, I don't even know what Spotify costs these days, six bucks a month?
Alicyn
I mean, I think. Cool. Well, okay, now there's 95 questions. Guys, come on. There better not be repeats. Let's um, do you mind, Griffin, then if we just take a few minutes and answer some of these glorious fan questions?
Griffin
You got it. I'll try my best.
Alicyn
Sponsored by Spindrift
Griffin
Sponsored by Spindrift and World Market.
Alicyn
Okay, people are wanting to know, who's your favorite Genshin character, other than Childe?
Griffin
It's got to be Zhongli, duh.
Alicyn
And why?
Griffin
Cuz he's a sexy bad boy.
Alicyn
I'm sensing a theme.
Griffin
Like-minded.
Alicyn
Okay, it's a lot of questions. And this person is asking really good questions. But are there any roles that you regret or you wish you hadn't said yes to?
Griffin
So, um, I can't think of anything specific. But I will say that sometimes, I booked jobs that are more taxing than I expected. I did a video game last year for a big franchise. And it was all screaming. And I showed up at 9am. And it was just, I was scheduled for four hours. Thankfully, I was very efficient. And I got it done in an hour and 45. But I screamed for an hour 45. And it was brutal. So I it was good, you know, it was good, good gig, you know, paid well, but it if I had known I don't know. It tore me up pretty good.
Alicyn
Yeah. And you know that there's always a lot of talk about vocal health and how to prevent that. But at a certain point, you can't make the noises.
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
You know, you can't make the sound of someone falling off a cliff on fire or dying, without damage to you. Unbelievable.
Griffin
And sometimes people don't understand that, you know, you have a limit. So, yeah, they think like, oh, we'll do three takes of every, every scream. And it's like, "Guys, I can I can give you one take, or you know, maybe two for a while and then maybe and then we're gonna have to cut it down to one." But you know, we're, you know, voice actors aren't invincible, so.
Alicyn
Just looking. So this kind of piggybacks on that, we talked about the difficulty of, of yelling, and vocal stress. What about do you find it difficult to voice crying scenes like the one in Devilman?
Griffin
No, I'm a baby. I am very sensitive. And I'm always, I feel like I'm always on the cusp of crying, if I need to. So it's not hard for me to cry. I will watch, we just made a lyric video for one of our latest songs. And it's, it's so beautiful, the way the person made it, that I was crying at the end of it. So no, if I can get in the scene, if I can look at the character and identify with what they're feeling. Not a, not a problem to to cry at all. Yeah.
Alicyn
You cry for us now. I'm kidding. Just, a lot of just I mean, just so you know, a lot of questions like this, "I love you, Griffin. Thank you for..."
Griffin
Thank you for existing. Thanks for coming to the live stream.
Alicyn
Yeah, thank you guys. Also, this is a great question. What do you think was your proudest moment as a voice actor? Is their one in mind?
Griffin
At this moment? That's a, that's a good question. I have to think about that one. I've had a lot of positive moments of my career. I did something pretty interesting, in 2019. The, so the company that I did Jibo for that I mentioned earlier, text-to-speech.
Alicyn
Yes.
Griffin
Um, some of the guys that were working for that company ended up going to another major tech company that everybody would know, I'm not gonna mention the name of it, but um, I had to fly. I audition for them for another text-to-speech project. And I had to fly up to the Bay twice for callbacks, on my own dime. Not knowing if I would, you know, get this job. And but I did, and I relocated to the Bay, but there was quite a euphoric feeling of getting notified that, all that time flying up and back was, was worthwhile. So, that was cool.
Offer
Welcome to Alicyn's Wonderland. I'm your host, Alicyn 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. Hey, 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.
Alicyn
Oh, amazing. Again, it's NDA, right? So we can't.
Griffin
NDA, yup.
Alicyn
What?
Griffin
It was, it was. Oh, sorry. What?
Alicyn
It rhymes with? I'm kidding.
Griffin
Yeah, right. I have done that before. But I won't do that on the stream.
Alicyn
A lot. I feel like we get this question a lot here. But it has come up in this, the questions a few times so.
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
Maybe we could touch really quickly on how if you have any tips for people that are, first off, subscribe to this show, because this question comes up every week and you have people like Rob Paulsen who's been in the business over 30 years, or Debi Derryberry answering this question as well as people that have been doing it less time. Actually with Kellen Goff coming on the show who you've worked with.
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
Well, actually in two weeks, because next week, I'm going to be on vacation. And so he's been doing it since he was like, 17. So it's really interesting to hear different perspectives, because no two stories are exactly the same. But do you have any tips, Griffin?
Griffin
Sure. I mean, you know, I have to speak from experience and how I got started. But um, I would suggest, take a class, you know, whether if wherever you live, go online, do research, you know, go online and type in voice acting classes, voiceover coaches, there's free resources on YouTube. There's lots of sites out there that have free scripts, just start learning. See if it's something that you have a knack for, that you enjoy, after that, hop on the pay-to-plays like voices.com / voice123. A lot of people won't tell you to do that. But I started on those. I don't use them anymore. But they are a great way to audition. And so while you're learning, you can practice auditioning and get real world experience, maybe book some jobs. That'll give you a good indication if if you're going to be able to do it. And yeah, and then once you do that, you get a demo done and you go out there and try to get an agent and yeah, hustle, hustle, hustle and audition, audition, audition. But yeah, start off with some learning. And you know, it's gonna be different for everybody. Some people are going to need more training than others. Others don't need too much training. They maybe already have a big acting background or they are very natural at, at voice acting. So you know, figure out who you are, what's your voices, what do you sound like? Yeah, classes-demo-agent. In a nutshell.
Alicyn
Yeah. If you guys ever need like, tips on good coaches, you can shoot me a DM. I've worked with almost everybody. And it's just always good to get just a perspective, a different perspective. And yeah, there's a lot of people that now they're doing zoom classes, and remote learning. So yeah, just let me know. I don't know, do you know your MBTI personality?
Griffin
Uh, oh. You mean like ENFJ or something like that?
Alicyn
Something like that, yeah.
Griffin
I thought I was an, E-INFJ? Although I feel like I'm more extroverted. I don't know. I might be INFJ, I, do not quote me on that people. I'm not sure.
Alicyn
Okay, um, let's see. A lot of just sorting through. Somebody is requesting that you put your Childe covers on Spotify.
Griffin
Oh, not sure if I'm allowed to do that, but I'll think about it.
Alicyn
Do you have a favorite voiceline as Childe?
Griffin
Um, I don't have my cheat sheet in front of me. I mean, I like the classic. "Hey, girlie. Hold still." or shoot, I forget. Sorry, guys.
Alicyn
You know, guys, we'll just have to go play the game.
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
Just kidding. Hello. Hello, Griffin. Everybody's saying hello. Does your back hurt from carrying the fandom? Hey, girlie. Let's see Childe, Childe, Childe. Do you have a favorite Genshin girl?
Griffin
I don't, I don't, I'm, I don't. I'm not sure. Sorry, guys.
Alicyn
Yes, I'm getting a lot of the exact same questions. How are you guys? We're good. Thank you. I was also wondering, this is an Ali question. A lot of thank you, voice acting, how's your day? Okay, so I'm going to go, then I'm going to go back to my question, which is, how are ways that you stay inspired to create art?
Griffin
Hmm. How do I stay inspired? Well, I think I think I do have sort of an innate drive. And I try to observe little things in my day to day that I find are funny or odd or, and I take note of them. And oftentimes, those are sort of the seeds that I use to create my content. I did a silly video yesterday about vacation t-shirts. And it was because I was pulling out the drawer and I was looking at a shirt I bought in Hawaii and I was like, I never wear this, I don't want to wear it. I don't know what to do with it. And then I thought, you know, I bet other people might feel that same way. And so that was that was an idea. And I just get, I get a rush out of being creative. So, you know, and I, you know, because as a voice actor, we have flexibility and are able to leverage our time, I often have the time to put into say, the silly, you know, seed of an idea. And but, you know, sometimes those little ideas become big things. And I've put stuff out that I thought, "This is this is kind of dumb." And then I'm like, wait a minute, it has 500,000 views? I guess I will make more, you know.
Alicyn
Yeah, that's amazing to be able to build that kind of a platform, you know, through your work and voiceover, to be able to share other forms of art that you make, like your music. You know, I mean, making those videos is a combination of writing, shaping, directing, and then editing.
Griffin
So I guess it is wearing a lot of hats. I don't really think about it, but it is.
Alicyn
Yeah, yeah. Now what about, do you have a process that you use, like a ritual, when you get ready before a session or before you're doing your auditions?
Griffin
Well, auditions, I just make sure I'm well warmed up. I try to avoid the morning. Ritual, ot so much. Maybe drink some tea, drink some water, I hum, I do a lot of humming, that helps my voice warm up. Sessions. Same, you know, I'm just making sure I'm hydrated and I don't get, I don't get nervous for, for voiceover stuff. I think because, and I, and maybe that's why I don't feel the need for routine, but I think I've been doing it so long, and I feel so I, at this point feel so confident about it that I'm you know, I don't know, I don't, I don't feel like I need to do something special. I just, I just bring myself so.
Alicyn
Yeah. There's also like, I find, sometimes I can overwork something. And sometimes, you know,
Griffin
Oh, yeah.
Alicyn
Do like a bunch of reads on something, trying different things. And then I'm like, like the first, sometimes, the first has that spontaneity.
Griffin
Absolutely. I agree with you 100%. You can, you can run it into the ground here and try to perfect something over and over again and realize like, wow, the magic was in that first take. That's what I my eyes were you know, I don't know how to articulate it, but it's kind of your your instincts are coming out in that first take so.
Alicyn
Yeah, and you know, I mean, of course, it's great to train and you kind of said something that a lot of people don't say on the show, which is you might need a lot of training, you might not. I think this idea that anyone who wants to break into something that they haven't done before is not going to have an innate skill. But that's not always true and people do come in at different levels. And, and sometimes, you know, we don't want to take what is authentic and organic about it and then somehow direct it to something different.
Griffin
Yeah, it's. Yeah, totally, totally. And I've seen it firsthand. I, I saw a young girl come into DPN, back 10 years ago, and she had never done VO and I think she booked her first McDonald's read ever, you know, I saw that firsthand. I think we were partnered for it. My sister, my sister, I think booked her first job out of the gate. I booked that job on LA casting out of the gate.
Alicyn
Yeah. Yeah, back in the day. I booked my first job.
Griffin
There you go. And for me, I, to me, it was like a sign of I knew I needed to work in it. I knew it wasn't going to be easy. But it was, it was like the universe saying, "Hey, you do have the skill set for this. You should, you should pursue it." So you know, some people out there you might, you might find that you'll have something happen instantly. And, and you'll be like, "Okay, well, I am well suited for this. What, where do I go from here?" And then I would say you know, you should continue to learn and get better. And I mean, I listened to, I've listened to old auditions that I've done and they're, I'm like, "I booked this?" You know, I've gotten much better.
Alicyn
I know.
Griffin
But you know, I don't know.
Alicyn
Yeah, yeah. It's amazing. And so, so now you're, you're living in Los Angeles, you are living alone. Your, your roommate just moved out.
Griffin
Yeah, I bought, I bought my first home two years ago to the date, almost. And I make a full living just from acting. And it's been that way since 2014. So it's, I've been very lucky to I, I quit the service jobs and all that stuff, about two and a half, three years into moving here. So it was relatively quickly, quickly.
Alicyn
That's great. And do you do on camera acting as well?
Griffin
I do. You guys have probably seen me in some national commercials. I have done stuff for PetSmart, and Red's Apple Ale, and Honda, a bunch of ads. So yeah, every now and then, I'll snag a commercial. I would like to do them more often than I do. But the, you know, especially right now, I don't think there's a lot of auditions going on. Yeah, you do on camera to Alicyn, right?
Alicyn
I do. Yeah. It's been a few little uptick in the past two weeks, but it was definitely, a period. So and then, what about in terms of writing? Because obviously, you're coming up with all this comedy for your sketches and stuff. Are you thinking about turning that into anything?
Griffin
I haven't thought about doing anything with my writing other than I guess what I've been doing, and also songwriting. But I do have, I was an English major in college. So I think that sort of lends itself and I was always, I always excelled at creative writing. But no, I haven't, no screenplays in the works or anything like that. Not yet.
Alicyn
Not yet. Yeah. And then, you know, with with the commercial acting, do you do theatrical as well? Or is that something you'd like to get into?
Griffin
I would love to get into it. I have not pursued it. I've been, you know, so focused on voiceover for so long. I also find the process of getting involved with that a little daunting, because it's just,
Alicyn
Get dressed?
Griffin
Well, yeah, and drive to Santa Monica or whatever. But also just you need to have it's kind of that catch 22 of you need the acting real. You know, that looks good. But, you know, how do you get that real? And I have a real but I would like to improve upon it for before I submitted and stuff like that, so.
Alicyn
I mean, it comes down to hours in the day too. And like, what are we focused on and do well, because you don't want to be,
Griffin
All over the place, then you won't do, yeah, you want to keep excelling at the thing that's paying your bills.
Alicyn
Yeah, we talked a lot about Childe but we didn't talk too-too much about Doppio. Can you tell us a little bit about Jojo's Bizarre Adventure?
Griffin
Yeah, I'll try my best. You know, I'll tell the audience, a lot of these shows that get booked on. I don't know too much about them until I get to the session. And then it's up to the director to sort of inform me and, and whatnot. So I don't know the show as a whole that well, but Doppio, Doppio means double in Italian and it's because he has this split personality. He goes from being sort of a naive, youthful, friendly boy to being sort of a, sort of like, I don't know how to, crazed minion, I don't know what I don't know how to describe, it gets pretty crazy and pretty violent. So he's got the split personality. And he's really known for hearing things, and it's specifically hearing a phone ringing. So he might see a, say, a coaster, and turn that into a phone or a living frog or an ice cream cone. And so part of the fun with that character is that he's always doing a call sound like, and then hearing of, hearing a voice with who he calls the boss. So Doppio would be like, (As Doppio) "Boss, what do you need from me? Are you sure?" You know, and he, he gets all crazy, so.
Alicyn
Sorry, we're you gonna, okay, well.
Griffin
No, no, go ahead.
Alicyn
Um, I was gonna switch it up and ask about HobbyKids Adventures. And that's a Butch Hartman show, yeah?
Griffin
Yeah, it is. It was made specifically for YouTube. And it was in conjunction with a company called Pocket Watch, who specializes in kids entertainment. And they made this great show. There's a family, a really popular successful YouTube channel called HobbyKids, and it was a family. And they had like three and a half or 4 million subscribers. And so the, I guess the idea came about that they wanted to do a cartoon show. Um, and McWinger reached out to me some years ago and was like, "Hey, there's this audition for this, this show that Butch Hartman is doing? Would you be interested in reading?" And I was like, "Yeah." So I got to literally hand my audition to Butch directly. And he just wrote me back right away. And he was like, "This is great. Just try to change this." And I sent him another take. And then the next day he's like, "Great, you're hired." And I was like, "What the heck?" This is so much better than you know, all the auditions we do where we're stacked up against I don't know, 1000 people. So, so it truly is sometimes who you know. And I got very lucky on that. And, and man that show, even though it was just for online, I'd say collectively, those episodes have something like over 100 million views. Tons of views. So it's really fun. I got to do my you know, little cartoon voice.
Griffin & Kylen
Can you do it for us?
Griffin
(As Hobby Frog) "Hey, guys, I'm Hobby frog. Cool. It's great to see you. Mom, dad, where are you guys?" Something like that."
Alicyn
Awe, so cute. Someone's asking in the comments. Are there any other voice actors you admire, and look up to?
Griffin
Um, yeah. Well, when I was new to LA, I had the pleasure of speaking to Bob Bergen. He spoke, he spoke with me over the phone when I didn't know anybody or anything. And he said, "Hey, give me a call at such and such a time. I'll give you 20 minutes we can, I can try to help you out." And so he was awesome. I think because I have a younger sound I aspire to be like, Greg Cipes. Who's, he does, what does he do? He's like,
Alicyn
Teen Titans.
Griffin
Beast Boy, Teen Titan. So I think when I was early on in my career, I was like, "Man, that's that is the ideal career I'd love to do." You know, the young, hey, guys I'm Beast Boy, you know, I got that voice. So, I don't know, yeah, and some other, some other people that I rubbed shoulders with at my first agency, but yeah.
Alicyn
Cool. Cool. Cool. Well, jeez, guys. Do you think it's about time for a little New New Girlfriend?
Griffin
Time for music?
Alicyn
Do you feel like, are you guys, are you guys ready? Do you need to warm up or?
Griffin
No, we got it. In fact, I'll just move, I'll move the camera.
Alicyn
Okay, get ready. Invite your friends, if they're not on here. Send some hearts for Griffin. Now, I have the the honor of being the sole viewable audience member which is, like, a little bit awkward.
Griffin
Well, I hope you know.
Alicyn
Can I grab my guitar and like pretend to play along because we can never do that, because of the lag.
Griffin
I know. I know you're just gonna be standing there like, while I play to you. Well, whatever. Um, that's all good. Take the microphone headset out here and set up.
Alicyn
Introduce your band member.
Griffin
Of course, of course. Can you guys feel is the video too low? Is are we cut off?
Alicyn
A little bit? Yeah.
Griffin
Yeah. Okay, let me raise this up a bit. And turn this guy. This is my bandmate Kylen Deporter. and Alicyn. Kylen just got signed by CESD.
Alicyn
Hey, that's where I am.
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
Congratulations. And it's Kylen. How do I,
Griffin
Yeah.
Alicyn
Kylen.
Griffin
Kylen, K-Y-L-E-N.
Kylen
Yeah, that's right. Kyle with an N basically.
Alicyn
Kylen. Oh, nice. Congratulations.
Kylen
Thank you. And nice to meet you.
Alicyn
You too.
Griffin
Well, we might have to sit on stools because I'm trying to adjust this.
Alicyn
Well, Kylen's in the shot now. I think you're okay. If you, if you stand a little further back.
Griffin
Okay. Hopefully, hopefully the ring light doesn't fall.
Kylen
I would back it up just a little bit.
Griffin
Or I'll sit, I can sit down.
Griffin & Kylen
Alright, woooh. Put your hands together for New New Girlfriend.
Griffin
That is right. That is right. Um, we're gonna start off with a song called God enough. And this is a, is that cool with you? Or do you want to start with "Anything"? We should do "Anything". We, I, fake out, we're doing a song called "Anything". Okay. This is one of the first songs we ever wrote together.
Kylen
It's the first one.
Griffin & Kylen
It is the first, yeah. All right.
1, 2, 3. (In song) Anything, anything
Anything, anything
Anything, anything
Anything, anything
When I'm with you
I cannot lose
Given the choice
It's not hard to choose
Between who I am
And who I was
Without a love
So generous
Anything that you ask for
Wouldn't be so bad
Anything that you need, girl
Everything I have
Because I've got enough, girl
I know I'll be fine
'Long as I get to keep ya
By my side
When I'm with you
I feel free
Free from the things
I'm told that I need
And if what we have's
What I believe
I'm willing to let
Love take the lead
Anything that you ask for
Wouldn't be so bad
Anything that you need, girl
Everything I have
Because I've got enough, girl
I know I'll be fine
'Long as I get to keep ya
By my side
You know I met you
At a time
I could not be moved
And the last thing on my mind
Was compromising
But our lives
They just align
Anything, anything
Anything, anything
Anything, anything
Anything, anything
Anything that you ask for
Wouldn't be so bad
Anything that you need, girl
Everything I have
Because I've got enough, girl
I know I'll be fine
'Long as I get to keep ya
By my side Anything, anything
Anything, anything
Anything, anything
Anything, anything
Thank you, Alison, our one audience member.
Alicyn
Sound effects to, to symbolize all the cheering let's get some more hearts in there guys. That was great.
Griffin
Thank you. Do we have time for one or two?
Alicyn
Heck yeah.
Griffin
Okay.
Alicyn
People are not gonna let me cut this off now.
Griffin
Okay, what uh, I actually have a session at 7:15 let me make sure it's the right time.
Alicyn
It's 6:55.
Griffin
Perfect. Okay, we got time.
Kylen
Let's do sway?
Griffin
Yeah, let's do "Sway". So this is a cover guys. It's a, it's called "Sway" by the Kooks, it's a British band and we both love the song.
Griffin & Kylen
(In Song) Say whatever you have to say,
I'll stand by you.
Do whatever you have to do,
To get it out and not become a reaction memory
To hurt the ones you love
You know you never meant to but you do
Oh yeah you do
Be whoever you have to be, I won't judge you
Sing whatever you have to sing
To get it out and not become a recluse about how to come out
I know you never meant to but you do
Oh but you do
Still I need your sway, because you always pay for it
And I, and I need your soul
Because your always soulful
And I and I need your heart,
Because your always in the right places
And take whatever you have to take,
You know I love ya
Come however you have to come,
And get it out and get it out
Tttttake it out on me, take it out on me
I'll give it you all,
I give it you all, I give it
I give you all
I give it you all,
Yes I will give it you all
Cause I need your sway,
Because you always pay for it
And I, and I need your soul
Because your always soulful
And I and I need your heart,
Because your always in the right places
Oh yes I will, I will give it you all
Still I need your sway,
Because you always pay for it
And I, and I need your
Soul because your always soulful
And I and I need that heart,
Because your always in the right places.
Alicyn
Yeah, guys. That was great.
Griffin
One more and we'll call it, or?
Alicyn
One more, let's go. If you have the time, yeah. Let's hear it.
Griffin
Okay, Let's push it. I don't mind.
Kylen
Alright, yeah. This is our, this is our latest release it's called "Got Enough."
Griffin
Yeah, it's called "Got Enough." It's the last one we released on Spotify and seems to be our most popular one. So we appreciate that guys, for you listening.
Griffin & Kylen
(In Song) Matt and Trish, they got engaged
Their photos look a little staged
I'm happy for them anyway
At least that's what I say
And Sophie's on another trip
Somewhere where there's elephants
I wonder how she finds the time
The time to get away
And I'm alone, alone, alone
Me and a phone, alone, alone
Got me feeling like
I'm not enough, I'm not enough
When I compare all their best lives
To my imagined lack thereof
Ooh, I've got enough, I've got enough
Ooh, I've got enough, I've got enough
Emily just passed the bar
Bought herself a brand new car
Must be nicer than what I've been driving since '08
And Dennis made a million bucks
Sold his latest tech start-up
Man, the last I saw that guy he got held back a grade
And I'm alone, alone, alone
Me and a phone, alone, alone
Got me feeling like
I'm not enough, I'm not enough
When I compare all their best lives
To my imagined lack thereof
Ooh, I've got enough, I've got enough
Ooh, I've got enough, I've got enough
Meanwhile on my way to where I fall asleep to the TV
I'm catching moments that these people seem to want me to see
But I have to stop and wonder if you want my validation
Then maybe there's a chance you feel the same way as me
When I'm alone, alone, alone
So alone, alone, alone
And I'm feeling like
I'm not enough, I'm not enough
When I compare all their best lives
To my imagined lack thereof
Ooh, I've got enough, I've got enough
Ooh, I've got enough, I've got enough
Right here, right now
Right here, right now
Right here, right now
Right here, right now
Griffin
Cool.
Kylen
Thanks so much guys.
Griffin
Thanks so much .
Alicyn
That was great guys. Thank you. People want to know is Kylen single?
Kylen
No.
Griffin
No he's not.
Alicyn
Thank you guys so much. This was so much fun.
Griffin
Super fun. Thanks, Alicyn. I really appreciate it.
Alicyn
Have a great set and it was so nice to meet you. And we'll see you next time. And guys, we're off next week. But in two weeks, we have Kyle. Sorry. Kellen Goff is going to be on the show. So I'm sure there's a lot of crossover if you guys want to stay tuned and check that out. And El, is going to be on in a couple weeks. So thank you guys so much. And be sure to subscribe. Okay, Griffin, have a great session.
Griffin
Appreciate it. Bye guys.
Outro
Thanks for tuning in to Alicyn'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 Alicyn's Wonderland, please visit us at www.alicypackard.com. See you next week.